Unexpected Things
by RintinDestiny
Summary: <html><head></head>You would think that with everything that's has happened to the turtles over the past few days that they would begin to expect the unexpected. (2014 Movie)</html>
1. Chapter 1: Injuries

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**So I saw the movie and liked it a lot more than I thought I would...so much so that this little gem popped into my head. Dunno if I'm gunna continue it or not but hopefully someone likes it :) Would love to hear anything you have to say! God bless- Rin**

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><p><span>Chapter 1:<span> Injuries

It's strange, when one is so close to death, how the senses are heightened for however long a time you have left. The first thing that Avery truly noticed besides the ripping pain in her back were the smells. The chalky tang of smoke that coated her burning throat. The coppery scent of her own blood that was only slightly over powered by the smell of dirt and dust which felt suffocating in her nose.

The next thing that Avery noticed besides pain were the yells of people and the screams of police sirens. She could tell that other people were stuck in the rumble that had collapsed from the tall skyscraper that loomed over head.

It had been a perfectly ordinary day up until the point that the building had begun to collapse. She had been walking back to her apartment from her office job down the street when people began running and screaming. Avery had just been able to look up to see the descending rubble before it fell.

The girl could barely make out anything around her and funnily enough the one sense that seemed to have dulled in the chaos was Avery's sight. She could barely see the shapes of metal and rubble that were piled around her. She tried to raise her arm but she found that even the slightest movement made her entire body scream in pain. Blackness over took the young woman for a moment and she was unsure of how much time passed before she regained consciousness.

This time she noticed how dull everything had become. Sounds seemed muffled and her lungs didn't seem to be working correctly. Every rise of her damaged chest sent spasms of pain throughout Avery's body. She was dimly aware of something moving nearby along with the clink of sharp metal sliding into place.

The girl let her head fall back and she looked up to see that a large chunk of metal had been shifted by a large gray mass in her vision that was steadily coming towards her.

Dully, Avery realized that the gray mass was some sort of person that was making it's way over and she tried to call out. The only sound that came from her was a moan that ended with a huff of breath. Either way the figure seemed to noticed.

There were loud clangs as the silver/gray mass came over seemed to gaze down at Avery through the mess of tangled metal and rubble. Avery waited but the figure didn't do anything and a slight flash of panic went through her as she realized that whoever this person was...they were going to watch her die.

She tried to move again but the only response that her body gave was pain and she whimpered as blackness circled her vision. Through the haze though she saw the figure turn to leave.

Suddenly, there was the high pitched screech of metal bending and a whole section of rubble collapsed, sending the figure spinning out of the way and Avery felt something in her leg snap as a beam fell from above. There was a loud growl and the girl screamed, wetness splashing her face and chest. There were more shouts from outside of the rubble but Avery had no time to register calling for help. The blackness swallowed her and she graciously accepted the invitation into oblivion.

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><p>Silence was normally something that Donatello would have relished to have just five minutes of...but that was before the past few days happened. After about two hours of it he was starting to wish that anyone, even Mikey would say or do something.<p>

At the moment the purple banded turtle was trying to salvage what was left of his precious computer and equipment from their half destroyed home. Master Splinter was still resting and would probably continue to do so for quite a while. Each of the turtles were taking turns in watching over him and getting him anything he needed. Right now it was Raph's turn and he was taking his role extremely seriously. Sitting in the curtained off room in contemplative silence.

Leo was out making sure that no remaining Foot had tried to get back down into the sewers and had been patrolling for a good couple hours. Mikey was fast asleep in a hammock that he had salvaged from his old room, his snores were covered by an up thrown arm.

Donnie hefted a heavily dented computer tower up out of the rubble and wiped the brick dust off to examine the damage. A few scrapes and a broken router plug but for him that was an easy fix. Just some duck tape, wire, and two clothes pins could repair that. He carefully put it next to the sparse group of other things that he was able to save from the mess. He continued in this pattern, finding some odd or end of his old computer monitors or TV set up that he would either discard back into the rubble or set aside for when they relocated their home.

It was then that he heard soft footsteps that most wouldn't notice and he looked up over the rim of his glasses to see Leonardo trot through the entrance of their home.

"Leo!" he said enthusiastically, cradling a handful of wires and circuits.

He was about to make a crack about the quiet that he had been dealing with until he saw the look on his brother's face. His gray eyes were icy and his mouth was set in a tight line as he approached his younger brother.

"What happened? Is it the Foot?" he kept his voice soft as he dumped the wires to the ground and straightened up.

Leo shook his head, "No, but I'm not exactly sure what it is. I'll get Raph, you wake Mikey. You all need to see this."

Donatello was taken aback, "What about Splinter?"

Leo's expression softened slightly, "He's stabilized for now. Hopefully, this won't take more than just a few minutes anyway."

The second turtle nodded slowly and walked over to where Mikey was sleeping soundly, a reasonably sized drip of drool spilling from the corner of his mouth. With a flash of satisfaction Donnie gripped the top of the hammock and shook it back and forth, causing the snoozing turtle to swing into the wall.

"OW! Bro!" Mikey woke suddenly and fell gracefully to the ground, his plastron cracking against the floor.

Donatello gave a satisfied grin, "Rise and shine Michelangelo."

The youngest turtle groaned and rolled up into a crouch before standing to stretch his arms above his head.

"Don bro...not cool. What's the deal with the waking and such?" he asked before giving off a massive yawn.

The older brother rolled his eyes and put a finger to his lips.

"Shut it..." he hissed, "Leo needs to show us something important."

At this the orange masked turtle's hurt expression vanished and was replaced with the usual sneaky curiosity. Within a few moments three of the four turtles were gathered outside of the lair. Unfortunately, Mikey was rapidly becoming bored at having to wait for their leader and had taken to tapping his nun-chucks on the wall while humming 'Ice Ice Baby'. An antic that was quickly becoming old with Donnie and Raph.

"What is Leo doin'? He's the one that wanted us out here..." the largest of the three turtles growled, fingering the pommel of his sai.

Don simply shrugged in response, as he was concentrating on not hitting Michelangelo upside the head with his staff.

It was then, as if he had heard his brothers, Leo came from the lair. His face was still stony and his brothers saw this, quieting them.

"Alright fearless leader, what is it that ya wanted to show us?" Raph grumbled, leaning forward off the sewer wall.

Leo flashed a glance at the red banded turtle before turning to Donatello.

"Do you have your first aid kit?"

Donnie blinked in surprise, his glasses flashing in the dim light.

"I always keep a spare with me...why?"

Leonardo nodded, "I think we may need it, come on hurry."

At this, the leader started forward at a jog, his brothers flashing a glance behind him as they kept up.

For a good few minutes the four turtles made their way into the older part of the sewer system, sometimes having to bend over double in order to fit through some of the openings. The light started to fade out into a dim twilight that was only pierced by light coming from the occasional sewer grate. It got to the point that Raphael was about to stop and demand answers when Leo held up a fist to halt his brothers.

"What in the hell is going on Leo!" Raph hissed, his eyes glinting in the semipermeable darkness.

The blue banded turtle held up a finger to indicate silence but pointed up ahead to where the sewer ended in a large metal grate. The grate allowed the water to flow forward to a long plunge down into the true underbelly of New York. The group walked forward behind Leo who crouched low around a corner and pointed once more to the grate.

At first Donie, Mikey, and Raph couldn't tell what Leo was trying to show them but quickly their eyes adjusted and they saw the small shape curled up against the grate on the driest piece of concrete that it seemed to have been able to find.

"Is it a human?" Mikey was the first to ask in a hushed whisper, his blue eyes wide.

Leo nodded, "I think they've been lost down here but for a long time...I'm not even sure if they're..." he said trailed off, not wanting to assume the worst.

"Great...blue and bold goes and finds us another human to take care of." Raph growled and half turned to leave, his interest disappearing immediately.

A stern hand reached out and stopped Raph by grabbing the rim of his shell.

"Raph, we just saved all of New York and you're going to walk out on one person who could be dying." Leo frowned.

The bigger turtle scowled even more, "That's jus' it. We jus' saved New York City! One human in a bunch ain't gunna change much." he retorted, shrugging his shell out of his brother's grip.

Leo was about to grumble back a reply when a hiss from Donnie caught both his and Raph's attention.

"Hey...guys! Before you get into a holier-than-thou fight and all that, can we deal with the fact that this human is moving." the purple banded turtle pointed around the corner.

It was true, the person had uncurled from their fetal position and had tried to pull themselves forward, only to slump to the grimy concrete face first.

"That, can't be good..." Mikey muttered, standing along with his brothers from their crouched positions at the corner.

Without a word the four somewhat reluctant turtles slunk around the corner and across the murky channel of water, Raph hesitating in the back. Donatello was the first to approach and his first thoughts weren't happy ones.

Immediately, the first thing that struck the turtle was the smell. Of course being in a sewer would stink most of the time but this was more than just the normal smell of garbage or sulfur. It was the coppery tang of blood mixed with the sour of sickness.

Cautiously, Donny removed his bo staff and prodded the human to see if it was conscious at all. This received a low, muffled groan but nothing else. No movement, no words, not even an attempt to protect themselves.

"Donnie, what do think?" Leo asked, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder as he put his staff away.

The bespectacled turtle frowned, "Nothing good. I think they've been down here for a few days now and they're hurt...badly." he answered, setting his brothers into a series of murmurs and whispers.

Donnie turned back and approached the human so that he could inspect what sort of damage had been done. He gently used a digit to pull back the tangled mass of hair that was covering the human's face before gently turning them onto their left side. It was then that he realized that the human in front of him was a young woman.

She seemed to be in her late teens, possibly older since it was hard to tell by the blood, hair, and grim that covered her. He winced as he saw that some of the blood was a lot fresher and was darkest around the woman's legs and back.

"Jeeze...did she put 'erself into a car compactor?" Raph growled from behind Leo, his eyes narrowing at the bloody sight.

Donnie shook his head in shock, "It looks like her legs are partially crushed along with some trauma to her back. I don't even see how she got herself down here...or how she's still alive."

The turtles fell into a stunned silence as Donatello brought out a small metal tin that had a medical cross on the front. Delicately, he turned the young woman onto her back, earning another pained sound from her.

"Careful..." the purple banded turtle heard one of his brothers mutter, though he couldn't quite tell which.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes, out of the four of them he was the one with the most amount of medical expertise...and they were telling _him_ to be careful. Ignoring the rising annoyance of the backseat doctoring and the build up of apprehension as he continued to see more and more blood.

Donnie gently put the tips of his fingers against the girl's neck and concentrated on getting a pulse. He couldn't feel anything at first but slowly he felt the pressure of an slow, dull heart beat.

"She's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her somewhere safe before I can do anything to help her. If not then she's going to die." he finally said, turning to answer the expectant looks of his brothers.

There were a few moments in which nobody really wanted to say what was on everybody's mind. At least until Mikey opened his mouth...

"What about Splinter?"

At this Donny and Leo cringed at the same time and shared a glance, they knew that if they were to bring back a human, hurt or not, Master Splinter would not be happy. Especially after all that had happened so far over the past few days. There were several seconds of silence, precious seconds that Donatello knew could be used to help save this girl's life.

"What if we patch her up at the lair and then bring her to a hospital or call an ambulance once she's well enough to go? Master Splinter will still be resting for a few more days." Leo finally said, glancing to Mikey and Raph.

Both nodded, though the red banded turtle was more reluctant and he refused to glance at the girl. Donnie nodded resolutely before carefully maneuvering the girl so that he could pick her up. Gently he supported the girl's shoulders and waist and then picked her up in a brides carry.

The girl's eyes shot open as Donnie hoisted her up and a loud yell escaped from her lips, echoing through the tunnel. This made the turtles almost jump out of their shells and fall back into the channel of filthy water. For a brief second the girls pain glazed eyes locked onto Donatello's before she fell unconscious once more. Her head lolled to the side uselessly leaving a smear of dirt and blood on the turtle's plastron.

Leo, Mikey, and Raph all gazed at Donatello with wide stares, their hands at the ready to whip out their weapons. The purple clad turtle himself was speechless and very uncomfortable as he stared down at the girl, fearing another violent outburst.

"Let's just get to the lair..." he muttered and turned to leave.

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><p>It only took a few minutes before they four turtles and their unconscious guest arrived back. Since Splinter was occupying the only viable bed in the other room Donnie made due with an old sheet of plywood set up on four cinder blocks. The most comfortable aspect of the whole thing was a small pillow that the turtle had scrounged up from somewhere.<p>

Leo, Raph, and Mikey stepped back as Donny began to patch the girl up. Each flashing apprehensive looks to each other as the minutes ticked by. Soon the minutes turned into hours and the group began to disperse and go about their own task once more, leaving Donnie to finish. Mikey replaced Raph at Splinter's bedside and Leo began the task of collecting his own belongings.

Raphael decided to keep watch over Donatello from afar so that he didn't over work himself as he always tended to do when he set himself to a task. The hours continued to creep by until almost one o'clock in the morning did the red clad turtle put a heavy hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Don, you gotta get some sleep bro." he growled softly, tiredness dragging at his own limbs.

The younger turtle sighed and sat back on his heels as he stared dazed at the still unconscious girl that lay on the platform before him. After a more in depth examination he had come to the unfortunate discovery that both the girl's legs had been broken in two separate places. She had bad internal bleeding along with most likely a damaged spine and probably a concussion. Not to mention the severe lacerations, bruises, and gashes that covered the rest of her.

Donnie had done everything in his power to bind, stitch, clean, and bandage the girl's wounds without having to do surgery and violate the girl's decency. But he doubted that it would be enough especially with the internal and spinal injuries. The girl would need a blood transfusion soon if she didn't stay incredibly still. He didn't want to move her either, to do so could worsen her injuries.

Raph gave his brother one last slap on the shoulder before heading to his own sleeping are in another room. The younger turtle sighed heavily and began to pack up the remaining medical supplies that he had. He slowly stood up, his joints popping for having been in one position for so long. He closed up his kit and put it away before grabbing one of last blankets that they had that wasn't being used.

Carefully he draped it over the girl before turning to leave. That was when something caught Donatello eye that he hadn't seen when he had been dealing with the wounds. He bent down to examine a dark patch just above the girl's collar bone on her neck.

"I need sleep..." he grumbled as he removed his glasses and rubbed his aching eyes, not evening trying to figure out what his tired mind was seeing.

He turned and went over to his own sleeping mat and nearly fell onto the thin cot. He placed his glasses on the ground before rolling onto his side and closing his eyes.

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><p><strong>Reviews are appreciated!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: Rescued?

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Thank you so much for the positive feedback. I got some questions as to if this story will be romance. Most likely it won't be just cause I'm not the best at writing romance and cause a human/turtle love story isn't my thing. Just a personal opinion. But either way thanks so much! God bless - Rin**

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><p><span>Chapter 2:<span> Rescued?

Avery saw roiling colors pass in front of her vision like looking through a very psychedelic lava lamp. The same vision that she had been having what felt like days. She vaguely remembered moving but not of her own will.

The girl felt a spike of pain rip through her spine as she was jolted upwards, the pure pain rocking Avery out of her limbo. Momentarily her eyes shot open and an involuntary yell tore out of her throat.

Despite the dim light of where she was, everything seemed bright and blinding to the girl. She looked upwards and saw the reason for her sudden movement. Hazel eyes locked onto a pair of glasses and realized that some one had picked her up.

Avery didn't have time to process who she was looking at though as her vision dimmed once more to blobs of color and then finally to black.

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><p>Dreams faded in and out of existence along with strange faces and a white light at some point or another. Avery had no sense of time, she could have been in this state for a few minutes or hours upon hours. All she knew was that she was floating almost away from her body. She sank down into the dreams until even they faded and the floating feeling vanished.<p>

It was strange as she felt a tingling start in her chest and spread down to her legs. She felt her chest tighten and a rush of glorious oxygen entered her lungs. All at once white flashed in her vision and slowly Avery felt her senses return. Her whole body hurt, like every nerve was on fire and her eye lids felt like they were made of lead.

As if she had cotton in her ears sounds slowly made their way through in muffled spurts that made her head pound. She strained slightly and her eyes slowly opened, allowing dim light to pierce her eyeballs. Even the watery brightness made her shut her eyes once again, praying that this agony would end once more. Slowly the sounds faded and the brightness went away and was replaced by the darkness of rest that she gratefully excepted.

Again, Avery's senses returned after an untold amount of time. Her senses didn't return as intensely as before. She slowly opened her eyes and the light that had hurt them before was nonexistent and it was pleasantly quiet. She blinked once, twice, and then three times to try and clear the cloudiness of her vision.

The first thing that she was able to recognize was the pattern of bricks that were part of the ceiling. They were gray and old, seeming to be covered in either dust or grime. The girl wanted to roll over as she realized that whatever she was laying on was hard and flat, making her joints stiffer than they already were.

Unfortunately, even the idea of moving sent shivers of pain down Avery's spine and she immediately dismissed the idea, knowing fully that she probably shouldn't be alive...but somehow was. Carefully she tried to turn her head, wincing as the muscles protested even to that.

Immediately, she regretted the decision as she saw where she was, or the fact that she _didn't _know where she was. The last thing that Avery remembered was stumbling away from the rubble that had nearly crushed her and had fallen into an unfinished man hole. From there it was a blur of pain and dragging herself somewhere safe. The room seemed to be half demolished, or at least in the middle of being reconstructed.

Large hunks of concrete were strewn about on the other side of the room where a gaping hole in the wall seemed to be messily patched up with planks of wood. There seemed to be another room to the left that was obscured by a tattered piece of cloth as well as a smaller up raised area just in the corner of Avery's vision. The girl knew that this was not where she had passed out. It was definitely less than fine living but it was obvious that someone lived here.

That's when the fuzzy memory of the amber eyes behind flashing glasses rose to the surface of her still dulled mind. Her rescuer...

He or she must have moved Avery to...where ever she was now and had somehow taken care of her. She felt a mixture of gratefulness and anxiety flash through her at the thought. She was amazed that she was still alive but who exactly was it that saved her? It seemed very dark and the girl assumed that her rescuer was asleep, at least until she saw something shift in the darkness.

The girl felt herself stiffen as a shadowy shape shifted in the corner in some sort of hammock. She saw an arm flop over the side and hung only a few inches from the ground and couldn't help but gasp. Instead of a normal hand the dark shape only had three thick fingers that twitched slightly as their owner slept. Heavy snores humming through the air.

With the sudden intake of air from the gasp Avery's lungs hitched and sent her into a burst of painful coughs. She had no control as the loud coughs echoed through the dwelling and at first she was terrified that whoever was in the room would wake. Every jolt sent waves of pain through her and she felt tears form in her eyes and the fear of the person was replaced by fear that the pain would not stop.

There was a flash of light and the sound of heavy footsteps as Avery struggled to stop coughing as she tasted blood in her mouth. Voices whispered and something touched the back of Avery's head. Drips of cool water splashed into Avery's throat and she gratefully swallowed the life giving water to cool her burning chest and wash away the metallic taste of blood. Finally, the coughs subsided and she laid back in a daze. Hushed voices continued to circle above her head and she realized there was more than one person now.

"She's awake!" she heard one voice clearly now, coming somewhere from her left.

Avery blinked blearily as the water was taken back, trying to clear the tears from her vision as the light from a flashlight blinked in her face. She panted as she tried not to panic at the overwhelming amount of things that were now suddenly happening. A digit pressed against her neck to take her pulse as two more voices joined in the indistinguishably murmurs over head.

With one last series of blinks to try and make her eyes adjust to the bright flashlight over head one face came into focus. It was the same face that she had seen when she had been jolted out of unconsciousness by her pain earlier.

The bright amber eyes that flicked back and forth behind a thick pair of glasses. Though the eyes were attached to something much less friendly looking.

Avery suddenly had the urge to run as she realized why whoever her savior was had only three fingers. She watched as the fingers led up to a green scaly arm that was heavily muscled and looked like it could easily snap Avery in half. She saw the rim and plastron of a shell that confirmed what she was seeing...despite the dim thought that she could possibly be hallucinating.

The being that was standing over her was a large, two-legged, talking turtle.

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><p>Donnie looked down in surprise and the girl blinked blearily past the flashlight that he was shining down into her face. At first the dark hazel eyes seemed confused, trying to figure out exactly what she was looking at. They suddenly widened though as her eyes roamed the purple clad turtle's face. He could see fear and shock blossom across her bruised face<p>

Behind him he could tell that Raph, Leo, and Mikey had come in at the disturbance thoroughly disgruntled at the interruption to their sleep.

"She's awake!" Mikey grumbled, stifling a large yawn as he was unexpectedly woken again for the second time in two days.

Donatello nodded taking his hand away from her neck, pleasantly surprised at the increase in her pulse. She had gone from nearly dead to...well, at least awake in the span of twenty-four hours. That wasn't the best thing yes, but it was better than the other outcome that the turtle had thought of.

The girl's eyes were still flitting back and forth to each of the four brothers, her pale face turning a slight gray color.

"Dude, are humans supposed to turn that color?" Mikey whispered loudly, not really concealing the question at all.

The three other turtles shared a glance, "She needs to calm down..." Donnie muttered, fearing that the girl could possibly go into shock.

Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo backed up slightly as the girl shut her eyes and began muttered to herself. Donatello could heard the whimpers and couldn't help but feel slightly bad. Of course this human was going to be afraid finding herself hurt in an unknown place, surrounded by strange beings whom she didn't know the intentions of.

Donnie remembered how he felt back in the glass case, his blood slowly being drained as scientists goggled at him from behind masks. He shook away the memory and focused on trying to calm the panicking human down.

"Uh...miss?"

The girl's muttering came to a halt and her eyes shot open once more, seeming to be riveted to the ceiling. Donnie was slightly at a loss as the girl refused to look over at him. The silence stretched on and on until finally a sigh came from behind.

"Great..." Raph growled, stood up and began walking away.

"...things keep gettin' better." Leo rolled his eyes at his brother's coldness.

The girl blinked once and shakily turned her head, obviously still in pain. She at first didn't seem to look at anything in particular but slowly her gaze landed on the closest turtle to her, Donatello. For several seconds she stared and the purple clad turtle felt extremely uncomfortable under the wide-eyed gaze.

"W...what..." the sound was more of croak than an actual word but at least it broke the mounting silence.

The three turtles lined themselves along the edge of the makeshift bed and shared a glance as they tried to perhaps answer some of the many questions that were running through this human's mind.

"Miss...I'm sorry if we startled you." Leo started out, drawing the girl's attention.

The look that she gave the blue banded turtle indicated that she was definitely more than just startled and her eyes narrowed.

"We found you in the sewer and brought you here to patch you up enough to send you back to a more adequate hospital. Unfortunately, you were injured more than we thought." Donnie said softly and as if on que the girl winced once more as she looked back over to him.

The three brothers shared another glance, at a loss for what to do since the girl seemed almost inconsolable. She simply furrowed her brow in pain again and closed her eyes.

"I think it would be best to leave..." Leo muttered and stood up, stifling a yawn so that his brothers couldn't see how exhausted he really was, being woken up at two in the morning was not supposed to be on his to do list.

Mikey followed suit along with Donnie who was also extremely tired and wanted more than anything to fall into his bed and sleep. They all stood and were turning to leave when a low sound made them halt.

"Thank...you..."

The rough whisper barely made it to the turtle's ears but it made them turn slightly to see that the girl had opened her eyes once more and was watching them leave. The turtles turned to face the human and each gave a nod each with a small smile before leaving.

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><p>Avery watched the strange creatures leave without a sound. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and she tried to take a deep breath. This action was met with another flash of pain but luckily it didn't start a second bout of coughing. The girl was still half convinced she was dreaming through a pain rattled mind.<p>

She couldn't help but feel slightly better though, at least she knew that her rescuers didn't want to harm her. Or at least three of them didn't...the fourth one that Avery had only gotten a brief glimpse of before he left and he didn't seem as friendly.

A sudden surge of exhaustion flowed through Avery and she felt her already heavy eyelids droop. She didn't want to sleep though...she wanted to somehow get out of this place and just go home. She wasn't one who handled stress well, especially if it was out of the ordinary. A million different scenarios ran through the girl's mind as her eyes finally closed.

Most of which were probably unwarranted worries that had no foundation but either way these worries sprang to life as she fell asleep. Becoming dreams that could have been left undreamed.

Avery wasn't sure for how long she slept but it seemed to be for quite a while, at least another full day. She was starting to feel slightly better though every part of her still hurt unbearably when she even tried to move. Every so often she could taste blood too...and this is what concerned her the most about her condition.

Obviously, these turtle things were trying to help her but if she was as injured as she thought she needed expert medical help. Unfortunately though, there was no way for her to get to that by herself. Avery had heard the purple turtle say that they wanted to wait until she was 'patched up enough' but how long would that take?

Avery had been living on her own for about a year now so no one would really notice her disappearance right away. She had consequently taken a two weeks off from work so that was the most amount of time that Avery had before someone noticed that she was missing. If that didn't make her rescuers let her go, her mom was supposed to come up from Virginia in another month and she doubted that she was going to miss her not being home.

It was then that there was the sound of something or someone stirring. Avery expected to see one of the turtles come through the doorway. The girl took a deep breath and prepared herself for the sight and turned to look. In what happened next Avery was just glad that she had somewhat prepared herself. If she hadn't then she probably would have screamed.

Instead of the expected masked, walking, talking turtle Avery's eyes bugged out as something extremely furry paced through the door. The hair on the back of her neck rose as she saw the large black eyes immediately lock onto her, eyes that belong to a huge rat.


	3. Chapter 3: Icebreakers

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Again, thanks for all the reviews guys! It's the fuel that keeps me going :) Hope you like this chapter and don't worry things are going to start to get exciting! Keep the reviews coming and Godbless!**

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><p><span>Chapter 3:<span> Icebreakers

Leonardo knew something was wrong as soon as he woke up. It wasn't by anything he heard or saw but it was just an instinctual feeling as his eyes opened. It was normally quiet in the mornings since he was always the first up, but this silence pressed in on the turtle's ears and made him want to make a noise.

Slowly, he sat up and peered around the room that he shared with his brothers. Everything seemed to be normal...or as normal as it got with their family.

Mikey had hung his hammock in the corner and was muttering something to himself in his sleep. Raph had his shell to Leo but seemed to be asleep by the chainsaw-like noises coming from him. Donnie was on his back on the far side, arms and legs spread eagle and it didn't seem like he would soon awake for anything.

Leonardo shifted and stood silently, noiselessly stepping from the room to find the reason for his uneasy feeling. He was about to got out into the main part of the lair when he heard a noise, actually several different noises.

The turtle froze at the light _tink_ of what sounded like china and a soft voice speaking from behind the curtain that divided the main area from the bedroom. Immediately, the turtle's thoughts went to Master Splinter and he felt his blood run cold. The human was in the next room...and so was he.

"Donnie!" the blue masked turtle hissed as he turned to face the bedroom once more, coming over to his brother's side.

The still sleeping turtle muttered something in his sleep and lazily rolled over, his mask askew on his face. Leonardo rolled his eyes and squatted down next to his younger brother.

"Don!" he hissed once more causing the purple masked turtle's eyes to shoot open and he sat up suddenly.

"Wha...who..." Donatello mumbled, half asleep as Leo clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh!" Leo motioned for Donnie to be quiet after removing his hand and stood, pointing to the doorway.

The younger turtle shook the remaining dregs of sleep away and followed his leader out of the room while adjusting his mask. At first he seemed fairly confused as to why Leo had woken him up until his brother motioned to the small noises in the next room.

Leo mouthed a single word and Donatello thought his heart might have stopped.

"Splinter." he breathed, feeling his insides grow cold as the soft voice fell silent for a moment in the other room.

The clink of china continued though as the two turtles crouched just out of view of the doorway, their eyes reflecting the same fearful shock that they each felt. Master Splinter had obviously recovered faster than they had anticipated and, had unfortunately found their new guest.

"We need to hear what he's saying and if that girl is saying anything in return." Donnie finally whispered, crouching by the covered doorway before pressing his head against the frame.

Leo copied on the opposite side, both their eyes narrowed as they concentrated on trying to make out what was being said.

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><p>Avery looked on still slightly in shock as her new visitor continued to chat quietly next to her while sipping tea out of a chipped cup.<p>

At first the rat, who had introduced himself as Splinter, was just as surprised to see Avery as she was to see him. She had tried her hardest not to simply ignore her current state and run but soon the rat made it clear he wasn't planning on hurting her. She had tried to talk and answer the questions that he asked but her voice was still extremely rough, from both lack of use and her injuries.

Splinter had seen this and he had disappeared to the small space he had come from.

"I see that my sons have taken their guardian roles on a little too well..." she heard the rat mutter as he returned with a wooden tray.

Avery couldn't help but feel relief as she saw that the tray was laden with a some tea and bread.

_'Food!'_ she thought to herself and glanced at Splinter who gave a kind smile.

From then on the rat had graciously given Avery some cooled tea and even small pieces of bread, seeming aware that the girl could barely move. Every so often he would either just state something or ask a small question, most of which Avery could answer with a simple nod. At least until after a long bout of silence the rat put the cup he was holding down and turned to fully face Avery.

"How was it that you were put into this condition my child?" Splinter asked, his liquid eyes narrowing but more in curiosity than suspicion.

Avery took a breath, careful not to over expand her aching chest.

"Building collapsed..." she whispered, her croaky voice cracking slightly.

Splinter blinked in surprise, "What building?" he asked quickly.

The girl frowned slightly, not exactly sure of what building it had been. It had obviously been one of the taller skyscrapers but it was New York City. There tended to be quite a few of those.

She slowly shrugged, wincing as a flash of pain went down her spine, "Some skyscraper or tower."

Splinter's ears flicked back for a moment in anger before sighing and pouring more tea into his cup as well as two others ones. Avery thought it strange but didn't question it too much, she was talking to a giant rat so it was sort of the least of her worries.

"What is your name young one?" the rat asked once more, his composure back as soon as it had vanished.

Avery took another breath, "Avery..."

The rat nodded, "That is a good name, Avery. Mean's wisdom I believe..." he said softly and the girl blinked in surprise.

"I am truly sorry that you are in this predicament Avery. I do hope that I and my sons can help you in anyway..." he continued, setting down his cup and placing his hands on his folded legs. The girl was about to thank him when the rat held up a single digit and his left ear flicked back.

"Isn't that right Leonardo...Donatello?"

Avery watched in shock as after a full thirty seconds of silence the fabric covering the far doorway rustled and two of the turtle creatures came through, guiltily looks crossing their features as they slowly approached Splinter and the girl. Avery watched as the rat gestured for the two turtles to sit and they did so silently.

She realized now why Splinter had poured two extra cups of tea and she felt amazement wash through her.

_'He could hear them that whole time!?'_

Avery felt suddenly very uncomfortable just lying there on her back as Splinter and the two turtles, (she had't figures out who was Leonardo and who was Donatello yet) sort of just watched her. After a minute the two turtles took the remaining tea cups and sipped quietly in silence.

The silence got to a point where Avery considered falling back asleep just to stop the awkwardness that she was feeling.

"Is there something you wanted my sons? Or did you simply want to practice your ninja eavesdropping?" Splinter finally broke the silence, a slight hint of humor lacing his voice though his face stayed serious as he turned to the two.

The blue turtle seemed to wince at this statement and the purple clad turtle glanced away.

"Sorry, sensei...we just weren't sure how you were going to react to our...uh guest." he said quietly and snuck a glance at Avery.

It was then that she started to come to the realization that she wasn't exactly the most welcome guest and had dropped in without permission. Though, in her defense she hadn't asked to be rescued.

This made her feel even more uncomfortable as she simply laid there and continued to look and listen.

Splinter sighed and shook his head, "Do not worry, I am not upset by young Avery here. I am, however upset that you tried to keep it from me." he glanced at the blue banded turtle.

"Especially you Leonardo."

Avery saw embarrassment flash across the Leonardo's face and she suddenly felt bad that her being there was getting him into trouble with Splinter. But the moment passed relatively quickly this time and the tense atmosphere dissipated.

"So your name is Avery?" Donatello spoke this time glancing over at the girl, trying to flash a friendly smile.

Avery tried to return it but she figured that it came out more like grimace, all she wanted at this moment was to be back where she belonged. No more weird creatures or injuries, just her sleeping, getting some food, and taking care of her cat.

_'Maybe I can make myself pass out again...' _The thought passed through the young woman's mind but she dismissed it. These 'beings' were trying to help her, there was no reason for her to freak out to the point of hysterics. At least not yet...

She nodded slowly in answer.

"And you live in New York?"

The girl nodded once more, her smile becoming slightly more genuine as she tried to calm her thoughts and just accept that this was indeed happening to her, whether or not she wanted it to.

The exchange of simple questions continued for a little while longer until Avery started to grow tired of being questioned. She knew that all the questions that the turtles and the one question here and there from Splinter were harmless, but all the same it felt like she was a bug under a microscope. There was a small break in the conversation in which Avery took the chance to clear her throat.

"What about you?" she croaked out, hating how her voice sounded, "Who are you?"

Leonardo and Donatello looked at each other and the blue turtle opened his mouth to respond when a deeper voice interrupted.

"That's a big question with a long story..."

All eyes turned to look at the doorway which the two turtles had first come through. The fabric was pushed aside and the two remaining turtles whom Avery didn't know stood there with slightly different expressions. The one that had spoke, a red banded turtle that seemed to be largest (and scariest) out of the four was leaning back against the wall with a moody and slightly irritated expression. The second orange banded turtle was looking on with a more bemused expression that displayed curiosity if anything else.

Avery glanced back up to the red banded turtle who looked right back, almost defiantly challenging her presence in his home. Warily, the girl glanced away, feeling even more unwelcome than she had been a few minutes earlier.

"And...one that may be told at a later time." Splinter interjected, flashing a glance at the new arrivals before looking back to Avery.

The girl nodded in response, grateful for the change in conversation and the chance to close her eyes. She heard shuffling and she assumed that the turtles and rat had gotten up to leave. Avery couldn't deny that she extremely curious with what and who these creatures were...but the more dominant feeling was still of confusion and fear. It felt like she was prisoner almost, though she knew that these turtles didn't seem to want her there anymore than she wanted to be there. Especially, the red banded turtle whose name Avery didn't know...

She figured though that the faster she healed the faster she could go home...and that it would be for the best.

* * *

><p>The woman's eyes flashed open as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. As if by an unspoken command the few black clad men that had been gather near her melted into the shadows as the door was thrown open, making the woman jump to her feet from her kneeling position.<p>

Dark eyes widened in shock though and the woman's stony composure evaporated as a large armor coated figure stumbled into the dark room. The silver armor was damaged t heavily and clanked with every step.

"Sensi!" she exclaimed and jumped forward to help.

Her hand was only a few inches away from the silver figure as he raised a hand, halting her assistance.

"Matte..." it growled, "Kuuki yome!"

At these words a hurt look crossed the woman's face but it quickly passed as the suit of armor stood, its joints creaking slightly.

"What has happened since I have been gone?" a low voice growled from the suit, turning to fully face the woman.

She bowed at the waist before answering this time, her eyes not wanting to meet the figure before her.

"The remaining men have regrouped and are currently searching for a more stable base of operations than this one. Sacks has gone to cover up the reason for his buildings collapse and regroup his belongings." she said softly.

The man in the armor gave a small growling huff of what seemed like annoyance though it was impossible to tell for sure.

"Tell him to return here as soon as he is finished, I have some things that I must discuss with him."

The woman bowed once more, this time staying in her bent position as a question came from her lips before she could stop it.

"What of the mutagen...father?"

The figure had half turned to leave but froze at these words, the air so still it seemed almost permeable.

"Kuuki yume." he almost snarled, making the woman bow lower.

And with that he left the room in a flurry of clangs and hollow footsteps. Leaving the woman standing there...still bowing.

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><p><strong>(In Japanses- "Matte": Wait "Kuuki yome": Know your place.)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4: Change of Plans

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Yay chapter 4! So glad you guys are liking this :) Hope I can keep 'em coming! Reviews are much appreciated and Godbless!**

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><p><span>Chapter 4:<span> Change of Plans

Avery wanted to scream but knew that doing so would irritate her already hurting body and would probably concern her hosts more than they already were. Inside though the girl wanted so much to get up and have the pain that she was feeling go away. She also wanted this constant feeling of being watched to go away to.

For the past three days or so Avery had mostly been trying to sleep or at least fake sleep so that the strange turtles and rat would leave her be. Though it wasn't that hard, they didn't seem too keen on interaction either. She couldn't avoid them constantly since they would periodically bring her water, food, and the occasional pain medication but she was still uneasy with her whole situation.

It also bothered Avery that on a regular basis she would have some sort of coughing fit and she would taste blood in her mouth. The fits weren't as bad as the one she had undergone when she had first arrived but they certainly weren't getting better as the days progressed. She refused to say anything though as it had become apparent that she was just an additional thing to take care of for the turtles.

They may have been her saviors and was she was grateful that they saved her, but she was far from getting comfortable with them taking care of her.

When she was sure they weren't looking Avery would watch as the strange creatures went about their day trying to clean up what seemed to be the remains of their home. The one that was called Donatello seemed to spend most of his time recovering bits and pieces of machines and computers that were scattered about the space, most of the time dumping what ever he found into a large pile of bent metal and unusable wires.

Leonardo didn't come through the main room as often but when he did he always glanced at Avery who would promptly try not to seem awake. She wasn't sure if her ruse truly worked but it at least made her feel better. The blue banded turtle always seemed to be thinking though, and Avery would sometimes see him sitting cross-legged in the next room as if in meditation.

The other two turtles seemed to be almost opposites of each other when it came to acknowledging Avery.

The girl had heard the one with the orange bandanna called Mikey once and had assumed that it was short for something, though she wasn't exactly sure for what. He seemed younger than the others by the way that he seemed intensely curious about Avery. He almost always was trying to get her to talk, though he didn't have any trouble keeping up a one sided conversation. Only a day ago he had knelt by Avery and had tried to get her to have a conversation on what her favorite pizza was. She had been extremely surprised at his sudden interest in her since up until that point she had been left mostly to herself. The contact didn't last very long though as Donatello had shooed Mikey away, telling him to let her sleep.

The last turtle seemed to have the exactly opposite way of thinking. Since the day that Avery had woken up she had only seen the red banded turtle twice. He never looked at the girl, never tried to talk to her, and didn't seem able to stay in the same room for more than a minute or so. Avery had come to the conclusion that he simply didn't like her, whether that was because she was technically intruding on his home or because she was a human Avery wasn't sure. But she felt that she didn't particularly like the situation any more than he did.

As for the pain meds, Avery was wary the first time that Donatello had given her one. But when they proved to help she gratefully excepted them. They were only effective to a point and made it easier to sleep but Donatello had told her briefly that they were highly potent and couldn't be taken more than twice a day. That wasn't always enough and Avery would have to deal with burning aches in her back and chest. Another big concern of hers was that despite the fact that her legs were still broken she couldn't really feel them all that well.

At first she just attributed that to not moving them in quite a while and the fact that she was lying on a flat board that was not the best for circulation. But it still weighed heavily on the girl's mind and she prayed that she could get to a legitimate hospital soon.

At the moment all of her hosts had left to follow their master out, for what Avery wasn't sure since she wasn't privy to that information. She was thankful however for the respite and the silence it allowed her. It gave her time to think and, even better, time to peacefully sleep. Even at the thought her eye lids started to droop and Avery felt sleep start to over come her and gratefully traded it for the ache that had started up once more.

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><p>The four turtles faced each other, their weapons drawn and eyes narrowed as they stood at the ready. Master Splinter paced back and forth to the left with his hands clasped behind his back as he glanced between his statue still sons. He came to a halt and raised a hand, making everyone tense.<p>

"Hajime!" he said sharply with a flick of his tail.

The four turtles lept forward and their weapons met with a clash. Donatello's staff met Leonardo's katana's as Raphael ducked the swinging blows of Michelangelo's nunchuks. After many days of not training and practicing due to recovery and the unforeseen arrival of their guest, Master Splinter had wanted the turtles to get back into the habit of training as soon as possible. And of course their first exercise was sparring of course.

There was a loud clang as Donnie pushed Leo back against the wall, making him drop one of his blades. He ducked as he brother took a swing at his head but his staff hit the brick instead. The blue banded turtle rolled up into a crouch before taking his remaining sword and going on the offensive.

Meanwhile, Mikey was trying not to panic as Raph charged forward, his sai drawn and at the ready. The orange clad turtle ducked and lept to the side with a yell while swinging his nunchuck. This continued for a few minutes until Mikey was able to catch one of Raphael's ankles and make him trip. He put all his strength into the blow which sent the bigger turtle spinning to the ground, his shell cracking against the cement.

There was a similar crack as Donatello swung and missed, his staff hitting the floor as Leo flipped passed him, his sword swishing through the air to come to a halt only a few inches from the purple clad turtle's shoulder.

"Yame!" Splinter said sharply, making his sons freeze for a moment before going to line up in front of their master.

Raph grumbled some curses under his breath as Mikey offered his brother a hand, which promptly got swatted away. The four turtles lined up and knelt, looking up at Splinter, his dark eyes darting from one to another.

"Well done my sons." he began, clasping his hands behind his back and began pacing in front of the brothers.

"You fought well even after all that has happened, though you still need to work on many things." the rat's tone changed as he looked to Donnie on the end.

"Donatello. You fight with speed and determination but you must keep your actions under control, the staff is an extension of yourself. Not a baseball bat." the purple turtle nodded, dipping his head.

"Raphael, you have much strength but you need to know when to use it and how much. Your sai are not pitch forks, they can be used in more than one way." Raph let out a breath, but nodded slowly.

He was obviously less than pleased about the fight's outcome.

"Michelangelo, you fear to much. You must trust in your abilities and apply them accordingly. That said my son, well done on your victory." the orange banded turtle grinned to himself as his master moved on, earning him a death glare from Raphael.

"Leonardo, you handled yourself well and evaded even though you were nearly bested..."

"Yeah...'course mister perfect..." Raph muttered, earning an elbow from Donnie.

Splinter's ears flicked backwards but he pretended as if he didn't hear the commotion as he continued to address the blue banded turtle.

"Even so...you must learn to do whatever it takes to earn your victory. Do not hesitate when the time comes my son."

Leo dipped his head, "Yes...sensei."

There were a few moments of silence in which Splinter continued to observe his sons before taking a deep breath. Even now he could tell that they were still exhausted. Not just physically but mentally as well, it showed in their eyes. The rat knew that he was their master but he was also their father...

"That will be all for today my sons. We will continue on tomorrow." he said, making all the turtle's heads snap to attention in surprise.

"Really master?" Mikey piped up.

Splinter couldn't help but smirk to himself, "Yes...unless you wish to continue on with your katas then..."

Immediately, three other hands clamped over the orange banded turtle's mouth, causing him to almost fall backwards.

"I think we could all use the rest sensei!" Donnie interjected, flashing a glance at his younger brother.

And, before their master had a chance to change his mind the four turtles had stood, bowed, and then turned to jog back to the lair.

"Nice goin' dim wit, you almost made us go back to doing kata." Raph gave Mikey a playful smack, though he coupled it with a rare smile.

Michelangelo grinned back, "Well maybe if you had actually blocked my nunchucks then maybe you wouldn't have to practice more bro."

"That was a lucky shot an' you know it, Mikey!" Raph shot back as they turned the corner.

With a shove of his large shoulder, the red banded turtle pushed shoved Mikey. The momentum of them running plus the shove made the orange banded turtle skid and fall into the channel of water just outside the hidden entrance to their lair. Donatello and Raph broke into hysterical chuckles as Mikey sat in the mucky water, his blue eyes glaring daggers at his brother. Leo tried not to laugh but allowed himself a smile at his brother's expense. As much as he knew that Mikey was picked on the most he wasn't always innocent.

"Come on Mikey..." Leo smiled as he helped his youngest brother up, trying to conceal his own laughter.

"Dude, not cool..." the orange clad turtle grumbled, shaking the water off of his head as Don pulled the lever that opened their lair.

The four turtles continued to shove each other playfully as they entered into their half destroyed home, though it was slightly better than it was before.

"Dude! Who's up for pizza? Haven't had any in forever!" Mikey exclaimed, doing a perfect flip onto their couch made of pizza boxes and old cushions.

"Only if you're buyin' numskull." Raph laughed, turning to go back to his room when he stopped.

The red banded turtle froze in his tracks at the sight before him for several seconds before turning and calling behind him.

"DONNIE!"

The bespectacled turtle whipped around and came up next to his brother, his own eyes the size of dinner plates as the humor that had filled the room evaporated.

"Oh shell no..." he muttered before kneeling beside the fallen shape on the ground.

Avery, who had seemed fine as she slept that morning, had somehow gotten herself off of her platform and was laying on the ground. Blood, both fresh and long dried were splattered here and there on the floor. Also, more seemed to be dripping from the girl's mouth and nose. She seemed to have fallen off of her platform in another coughing fit while they were gone.

"Don...what's going on?" Leo demanded, coming up to see the sudden exclamation from his brothers.

The purple banded turtle was frantically trying to find a pulse on the immobile girl but wasn't having any luck. He desperately saw the slight rise and fall of her chest but nothing else.

"Something's gone wrong..." he muttered, pressing his fingers against the girl's neck.

"Ya no kiddin' but what! She was talkin' yesterday." Raph growled, staring at the blood.

"Now this?"

Donatello shook his head and half turned back to his brothers, his face stony and serious.

"I don't know exactly what happened! But we can't wait anymore, we need to get her to a hospital. If not...she _will _die!" he said grimly.

There were a few minutes of silence in which everyone but Don looked to Leo. The blue banded turtle taking a deep breath before stepping forward.

"Alright...Don get her up and prepare to head out. We travel out of sight and fast, _now_!"


	5. Chapter 5: Back on Track

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Chapter 5! I was actually going to update this past weekend but I accidentally forgot to grab my laptop charger. So it's chilling back home while I borrow a cord from my college...Oh well better late then never. Hope you like this chap :) Reviews are always appreciated! Godbless.**

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><p><span>Chapter 5:<span> Back on Track

_Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep_

Avery heard the beeps and wanted to kill whatever was making the noises. She couldn't even describe how horrible she felt. That was saying a lot since in the past few days the girl had been crushed by metal, dragged herself to a sewer, was rescued by mutants, and then had promptly blacked out.

Avery could barely keep conscious at the moment but it was strange, instead of feeling fearful or scared she was simply annoyed. Something was covering her nose and mouth and made the air feel stuffy. Her nose felt extremely itchy but her arms hurt to much to move and to make it even better the stupid beeping wouldn't stop! She guessed the only nice thing about her current position was that whatever she was laying one was soft and cushiony.

Finally, the young woman mustered the strength to open her eyes. The beeping continued on at a steady rhythm as she blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision. She at first was confused, the last thing she remembered was being in a half destroyed dwelling with four mutant turtles and a giant rat. Now, she had somehow ended up in what looked like a hospital. It was getting very disorientating passing out every few days and ending up in a different place...

The click of footsteps made Avery turn her head slightly and look passed the mask-like thing that was covering her nose. She saw a short woman who looked to be in her forties walk into the white room, she was dressed like a nurse and held a clipboard. The woman looked up and her eyes widened as she saw that Avery was awake.

"Welcome back Ms. Ritz!" the woman smiled, coming up the bedside and checking the monitor that seemed to be the source of the annoying beeping.

Avery didn't know what to say, or if she could actually say anything at all. Everything hurt at the moment.

"What...happened?" Avery almost groaned, her voice coming out in barely a whisper.

The nurse turned, her smile fading slightly.

"You've been through a lot young lady but don't worry. The doctor will be in shortly, he will explain what's happened over the past four days or so."

The young woman's eyes widened, _'Four days!'_ she thought in shock, something bad must have really happened to her if she couldn't remember being out of commission for four days.

How could she had gotten to a hospital without remembering? Did she die? How did the turtle things even get her here? Were they even real?

The nurse saw her almost panicked look and put a gentle hand on Avery's arm, careful as to not hurt her.

"Don't worry! You're alright now, you made a miraculous recovery Ms. Ritz and everything will work out okay. Just rest for now okay?"

Avery looked up at the nurse and all at once wanted a hug. Yes, she was a functioning twenty year old and she wanted a hug, was that so much to ask for? Instead of doing so though, the girl simply nodded and closed her eyes once more. She didn't sleep though as memories and thoughts flew through Avery's head. For a good half an hour or so she tried to figure out what had happened but for the life of her she couldn't make heads or tails of how she had gotten from simply trying to sleep down in the sewers to blacking out and ending up here at a hospital.

That's when the young woman heard a door open and more footsteps. She once again opened her eyes and saw an older man walking in. He had salt and pepper hair that was combed back from his face. He wore glasses that made his eyes seem a little too big for his face but he seemed nice enough as he smile.

"Ms. Avery Ritz, I'm so glad that you're awake." the doctor said and pulled up a chair next to Avery's bedside.

"Me to..." the girl responded, trying to sit up slightly.

The doctor immediately sat back up with a concerned look, "I wouldn't move too much yet Ms. Ritz. You've only been out of surgery for a few days, you had some serious injuries." he said and Avery stopped moving.

"Surgery!?" she said in a rough voice, her voice cracking slightly.

The doctor sat back down once more, his smile fading slightly though as he brought his own clipboard up and started reading from it.

"Yes, as I said you had some very serious injuries: two fractured legs, four broken ribs, numerous internal hemorrhages, cracked collar bone, a severe concussion, several lacerations and bruises, and a crushed lower spinal cord." the doctor read off, hesitating slightly on the last injury.

Avery blinked once, trying to make her brain catch up so that she could at least say something resembling intelligence.

"How long until I recover?" Avery finally was able to ask, grasping onto one of the many questions floating around her brain.

The doctor's smile was entirely gone now and was replaced with a sorrowful look. That coupled with the glasses enlarging his eyes made him seem like a hound dog.

"I would say that your ribs and clavicle will shape up within a few weeks or so. And as long as you don't do anything strenuous over the next week, which I doubt, your bleeding should stop. As for your legs and back..."

Again the doctor hesitated once more which frustrated Avery. She wanted answers and wasn't getting them fast enough.

"I'm not concerned about how long, can I please just know?" she said rather harshly, resisting the urge to try and get up once more.

"Well, Ms. Ritz. As I said the bones will heal...but you are not going to be able to use them. The damage to your spine was...irreversible."

At first the young woman wasn't sure if she had heard right or not. _'Irreversible?! He doesn't mean...'_

"I...can't...move them?" she murmured.

The man in front of her nodded solemnly, his eyes showing how sorry he really was.

"That is correct. You were paralyzed from the hips down because of your crushed spinal cord. There was nothing we could do to reverse the damage. I'm sorry, so very sorry." he said, standing up from the chair.

Avery stared into space, her thoughts not seeming to be able to collect themselves as the words 'paralyzed' and 'irreversible' seemed to float across her vision.

"Can I have a minute?" she asked quietly, though she didn't quite remember wanting to talk.

The doctor nodded, "Of course. I know it's a lot to take in all at once but don't worry yourself too much. We will do everything we can to help you get moving again."

The man tried to to flash a smile but all the young woman did was stare straight ahead, seeming to try to move her now immobile feet with her mind. With a slight nod he left the room in silence as Avery continued to stare. Almost wishing that she hadn't woken up.

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><p>Eric Sacks felt like the world was falling down around him. His billion dollar company had lost almost half of its investors, stock had fallen into the red, and not to mention that he was now facing criminal charges that had yet to be resolved. Then there were the numerous insurance claims that his building's collapse had injured dozens of people.<p>

He sighed as he sat in his dark office, ready to pull his hair out. He had worked so long and hard to get this company to where it had been and now...ruined over night by a little girl with daddy issues and four mutant freaks. Yes, he had cheated some, paid under the table, and kept his fingers in many pies but who didn't these days? Business was business and those who couldn't except that were out numbered and out gunned.

Sacks hit a fist against the top of his desk, scattering pens and pieces of paper to the ground and almost knocking over the glass of amber liquid that was left still half full.

"It can't be over yet..." he muttered picking up and taking a sip from the glass.

He sat in silence for a while longer taking periodic sips of alcohol until the glass was empty and his eyes had become slightly unfocused. Unmoving, he stared into empty spaced as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle with the same amber liquid. With slightly unsteady hands the man poured another half cup before replacing the bottle into the drawer.

"Why do you drink that filth?"

Sack's didn't immediately respond to the sudden voice that came from the dark shadow in the corner, his face showing no response what so ever as he took a sip.

"Because, Karai, it makes me feel better. And it's the only damn thing that can right now." he growled back, not bothering to move except to put his glass down.

The shadow in the corner moved and the woman revealed herself, her dark eyes narrowed in disgust as she gazed at the man before her.

"You sit and muddle your senses in drink while my father sits injured and in need. You are a fool..." the woman hissed, whipping out a short blade that flashed in the dim office light.

Sacks sat up at this, his eyes narrowed and his mouth curving up in a sneer.

"He is my father as much as yours Karai! You don't think I'm trying to do what I can up here? My company and life are about to be sucked away and you squabble over your petty feelings of insignificance." he growled, not noticing that he had risen out of his chair and had slammed both his hands onto the desk.

Anger and a spark of rage flashed through the woman's face and with a flick of her hand the slim blade that she held was only mere centimeters from Sack's chin. The man didn't flinch though and simply stared at her, face calm and collected as the blade fogged with his breath.

"Go ahead and do it." he said in a near whisper, his light eyes locked with her dark ones.

"It'll make my life easier."

Karai remained motionless for a few more moments before slowly taking her blade back and sliding it back into it's sheath.

"As much as I'd like to Sacks, _our _father requested that you discuss his future plans four days ago." the woman said icily.

"You still have not returned."

The man and gave a short chuckle, "And what plans would those be? The mutagen is gone, there's nothing to plan any more. There's no point."

Karai almost growled, her dark eyes flashing as she was about to offer a scorching remark when the phone on Sack's desk rang. They both looked over quickly before the man's emotionless mask fell. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, his shoulders rising and falling slowly.

"Tell him that I will be back as soon as I can. I will listen to whatever plans that he has." Sacks growled before picking up the phone.

Karai frowned, not liking how she was addressed as a lowly messenger. But she bit her tongue and slid back into the shadows, disappearing out the window from whence she came.

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><p><em>-3 Weeks Later-<em>

"How are you feeling today Avery?" the nurse came in, bearing a tray of food with her usual smiling face.

The young woman sitting upright in the hospital bed shrugged, "As good as I can be I guess."

The nurse nodded and set the tray on the girl's lap before putting a gentle hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Remember today's your last day! You get to go home and relax." she said happily before turning to leave.

Avery smiled but let it fade as the woman left, her eyes wandering the tray in front of her tiredly. She was glad to be finally getting released from the hospital, though she knew that things weren't about to get any easier. The young woman had gotten used to the fact that she no longer could use her legs and had even begun to use a wheelchair to get around since her arms and clavicle had almost completely healed. But her life outside the hospital was starting to catch up with her.

Just two days earlier she had called her boss to explain what had happened, leaving out her hallucinations of giant turtles, and had given him the news that she was now a paralytic. He was kind in his reception and gave a sincere apology but also dropped the news that since Avery's job at the office required her to run errands and be fairly mobile.

This was his way of gently saying that her job was now up for grabs.

It was what Avery had expected though, she knew that she'd be able to get by on disability at least for a little while at least until she could find a better paying job. The other big event was that she had been able to contact her mother and tell her what had happened.

It had taken all of Avery's power of persuasion to convince her overly bearing mom to not drive the six hours up to New York at that moment. She explained how she would be expecting her mother to arrive in another two weeks like they had planned earlier in the year. Of course Mrs. Ritz wasn't the lease bit happy about getting the news that her daughter had almost died three weeks later but was able to keep her motherly instincts in check.

Now all that was left was for Avery to figure out a way to pay the astronomical hospital bill that was sure to appear within the next few days. She highly doubted that her insurance covered nearly being crushed to death by falling bits of skyscraper. Avery shook herself out of her thoughts and began to pick at the food in front of her, happy at least that she'd be able to get better food back home.

She was poking a questionable looking grape with her fork when the door opened a little while later. The young woman looked up to see the doctor, whose name she had since found out was Dan Greene, walking through the door, followed by another younger man with a wheelchair.

"Ms. Ritz are you ready to go?" Dr. Greene asked, smiling kindly.

Avery returned it and had to admit it felt good to smile.

"As I'll ever be."

The doctor nodded, "Excellent! Now all we have to do is have one finally examination and go over your vitals. Then you can be on your way home." he said, taking the wheelchair from the younger man who left.

Avery nodded, placing her now half empty tray on the table to her right as the doctor came to sit by the bed with his clipboard. There were a few moments of silence in which the young woman fiddled with the paper strip that was around her wrist, marking her as a patient in the ICU.

"Alright, Avery. First of all how are you feeling right now?" the doctor first asked, flipping through the muticolored papers on the clipboard.

The young woman shrugged as she had before, "Better than I did when I first got here. Though I still have a twinge here and there." she said.

Dr. Greene nodded, "That's to be expected. The twinges will most likely fade with time and the up keep of your upper body strength.

"Anything else?"

Avery was quiet for a moment, thinking of anything that had been bothering her. She absentmindedly scratched her neck. This triggered something that had struck her only a few days ago.

"My neck on the side that was broken. It's been itching lately? Is that normal?"

Dr. Greene looked up, "Sometimes, when the nerves and muscle start to heal it can feel itchy or sore. Though it shouldn't be at that point for at least another week." he flipped up another piece of paper and scanned it quickly.

Avery frowned when the man didn't anything for a few more moments and his own brow furrowed.

"And it seems that's why..." he muttered.

"I'm sorry?" Avery said, crossing her arms as her eyes narrowed.

The doctor nodded once before putting his clipboard down "No, it's alright. Just sometimes when someone is injured severly their immune system either goes into remission or, in rarer cases, over compensates. Which is what your immune system seems to be doing, though I'm quite surprised that it is still as active as it is."

Avery didn't know exactly what the doctor was talking about but she got the sense that he wanted to say something else.

"Is there anything that I should be concerned about?" she finally asked.

Dr. Greene shook his head and gave another smile, though this time it seemed less genuine.

"No no. We'll just keep it in mind and if you start feeling sick again you should come back here. You're immune system should go back down on it's own though."

The young woman nodded and uncrossed her arms, convinced enough that she was ready to go back home and get back to normal...or at least as normal as if would be from this point on wards. She felt a slight twinge of excitement at the thought of going home to her cat and watching a movie. It seemed almost sad as how much she wanted some normalcy.

From there, Doctor Greene did a simple examination. He checked Avery's heart, lungs, and that her spine was healing properly. Nothing seemed to be amiss and he congratulated the young woman with a firm hand shake.

"All that needs doing now is to check out and you can head home."


	6. Chapter 6: Underground

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey all! I'm glad that you're still enjoying these chapter :) I'd love to know what you might be thinking or if you have any suggestions. Reviews are my brain fuel! Godbless!**

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><p><span>Chapter 6:<span> Underground

Avery sighed as she woke up, savoring the first deep, restful sleep that she had had in almost a month. She felt cozy and warm with the sunlight streaming through her window and her head buried in her comforter. It almost didn't register that she couldn't feel her legs...

After a few more minutes the young woman sighed once more, knowing that she wasn't going to fall back asleep. She sat up and glanced at her clock, slightly surprised when it read ten-thirty. She normally would be at work right now, taking notes for her boss or running to the coffee shop down the road to fetch three lattes and two ice coffees for her workmates. That didn't matter now though, Avery was out of a job.

The young woman maneuvered herself to sit on the edge of her bed and gently pulled her wheelchair over. In one swift movement Avery lowered herself down into the wheelchair and pushed herself towards the door. Absentmindedly, she scratched at her neck again as she planned what she would do for the day.

It had been almost a week since her release from the hospital, all in all over a month since she had had gotten caught under the collapsing building. Within that week the young woman was already starting to fall into a new, somewhat boring schedule.

She would get up and get breakfast before feeding her cat and watching House. Normally, Avery would watch a few episodes before growing bored and would go on her computer and look for job applications. Once in a while she had gone out for her version of a walk which usually included Avery pushing herself along the crowded sidewalks of New York until her shoulders would ache. Then she'd go home, make something for dinner and then get ready for bed before starting the process all over again.

Avery paused for a moment as her finger tips went over a small series bump on her collar bone and she scratched slightly harder, being one of those people who liked to pick scabs. Slowly, the young woman wheeled herself out of her bedroom and out into her living room.

The dark haired girl lived in a three room apartment that was on the second floor. The small bedroom led into the living room/kitchen and the bathroom led off of the kitchen part. The young woman went around and made herself a bagel and settled down in her living room. Not sure what she wanted to do for the day. If she was honest with herself she almost missed excitement and adventure of everyday life.

Not that being an office worker was that exciting but at least it was something to do every day. With a submissive sigh Avery grabbed the remote off of the couch and flipped on the TV. She carefully maneuvered her wheelchair next to the couch and pulled herself onto it. She neatly organized herself before pulling a blanket over her legs and settling down to watch more House.

...

Avery shook her head for the hundredth time to keep herself awake. It was now almost one in the afternoon and the young woman felt like a couch potato. She had only gotten up twice in this span of time and was slowly getting frustrated. She hated not being mobile enough to do simply tasks like working, cooking, or even just to go for a walk to keep herself occupied.

Avery sat up off her arm and stretched, the limb sore from holding up her head for so long. Once the fuzzy feeling in her hand went away Avery noticed something strange, her hand felt wet. The young woman looked down and saw that a light smudge of blood covered the palm of her hand and she frowned.

At first her first thought was the scab that she had scratched earlier but that should have sealed up ages ago. Carefully, she sat up and agonizingly slowly she hefted herself back into her wheelchair.

Without any real urgency Avery rolled into her bathroom, sighing as she could only see from her chin up in the mirror. One of the down sides of being in a wheelchair...

Normally the young woman would have simply ignored it and dismissed the scab as just an old scratch or some bump that she didn't remember getting. Ever since she came back though she'd been a little more paranoid about infections and anything that could have occurred because of her injuries. The young woman rolled her eyes and rummaged through one of the drawers. She snatched up a small compact mirror and tilted her head.

There was a sharp intake of breath and a scream escaped from the bathroom. Avery stared, any dregs of sleep that had clung to her now long gone as her heart raced into her throat. The woman stared into the small mirror, her fingers turning white as she gripped it so hard that it shook. The blood was in a small amount but the reason for the blood was why Avery was staring horrified at her reflection.

The small series of bumps that the young woman had taken to simply be scabs were something much more substantial. Each bump seemed to be embedded into Avery's skin and was quite hard, like some sort of nail or scale material. In total there seemed to be twenty or so bumps, each varying in size. Some were barely visible and looked more like specks while some were almost the size of dimes. All of which were a muddled gray/green color.

Avery lifted her hair and saw that the bumps ran from her collar bone up to just below her jaw line. She saw that in the process of scratching her neck she had dislodged one of the larger scales and that was the source of the bleeding, which was already starting to clot. The woman experimentally put her finger nail against one of the larger scales and tapped. It resonated up her neck and Avery involuntarily shivered. What ever these things were she could feel them and they hurt when pulled. Somehow they were part of her...

Avery nearly toppled out of her wheelchair as she turned and rushed to pick up her telephone back out in the kitchen. With shaky fingers she dialed the hospital's number and put the phone to her ear. It rang three times before a woman picked up on the other end.

"Lennox Hill Hospital, how may I help you today?"

"Yes, I need to speak to Dr. Greene please. It's very urgent." Avery said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

There was shuffling on the other end for a moment and the young woman tapped her fingers against the side of the phone in an attempt to keep from yelling.

"Dr. Greene is unfortunately out on call for the weekend. If you'd like I can take your name and number and let him know you called. Or you could set up an appointment for next week." the woman said and Avery's heart dropped.

"Please, you don't understand. I need to talk to him about something that may have happened while I was at the hospital. I need..." she started.

"Ms...Please...if this is a real emergency then I would gladly call an ambulance for you or if you have a complaint about the hospital I can connect you to Patient Relations." the woman on the other end interrupted, sounding less then friendly now.

Avery wanted to push further and was about spit back a retort. The words caught in her throat though as she reconsidered.

What would happen if an ambulance showed up and the people saw the scales...or whatever they were and thought she was some kind of science experiment? Or what if she had some new virus? She wanted this to be handled without any sort of mass panic if it could be helped.

"No...I'm sorry. Just if you could tell him to call Avery Ritz back as soon as he can I would appreciate it." Avery said softly, keeping the shaking in her voice to a minimum.

The woman on the other end gave a satisfied huff and seemed to type something before shuffling something.

"I will do that Ms. Ritz. Thank you for calling." There was a sharp click as the phone call ended and Avery sat there in her wheelchair, holding the phone as if it were a life line.

For a long while she sat there, rubbing her neck in a mechanical, almost frantic way. Finally, a small tabby and white cat came through the kitchen and gave a small meow. When Avery didn't seem to hear, the animal lept up into her lap and butted it's head into her chest. The young woman blinked and shakily took a breath before stroking the cat.

"I need answers..." she muttered to the tabby who blinked back happily, a purr starting up in it's throat.

"I can't sit around anymore."

Avery wheeled herself back through her living room and into her bed room. Her cat meowed once more and lept onto the bed, watching as the young woman started to rummage through her closet. She pulled out bags, random articles of clothing, and the occasional shoe until finally she pulled out what she had been looking for: a backpack.

Then, Avery proceeded to stuff a few t-shirts, an extra pair of socks, her cell phone and a sweat shirt into the bag before quickly rolling herself back into the kitchen. She began pulled out drawers and throwing random things into the outside pockets. A couple flashlights, extra batteries and a water bottle were followed by a few granola bars. Finally, she wheeled over to her front door and threw on a light windbreaker and grabbed her sneakers.

After some awkward finagling Avery had put her shoes on over her lifeless feet and had slung the backpack over the handles of her wheelchair.

"Okay..." she hissed through her teeth, staring at the front door as if it were some sort of hurtle or obstacle.

"Do I really want to do this?" she muttered, rubbing her thumb against the wheel of her chair.

_'You're going to do this and regret it...' _a voice seemed to say in her head but she ignored it and continued her staring match with the door.

It wasn't until her cat returned and pawed at her knee did she look down, her features softening.

"Don't worry Klunk, I'll be back soon." Avery whispered to the cat before throwing some food down.

She knew that it would last him at least until tomorrow. If not, she could call a friend at work or something to check in on him. The less time she was away the better anyway. With a deep breath she gave Klunk one last pat before zipping up her windbreaker and opening the door.

* * *

><p>"Come on Leo...why do we have to come out and patrol this often? I was about to beat my head count in Halo!" Michelangelo grumbled as he followed his older brother through the sewers.<p>

The blue masked turtle rolled his eyes but tried to keep his tone light as he answered.

"You know why Mikey. We may have beaten the Foot but that doesn't mean that they're going to turn tail and disappear. They could still come back looking for us. We need to make sure that they can't find the new lair."

"Dude, it's been over a month since then and we've seen nothing!" The younger turtle sighed but his brother didn't answer.

He knew that Leo was right though. He didn't want to become a walking blood bank again any time soon. The turtle couldn't help but grumble though as Leonardo came to a halt and peered around a corner in almost exaggerated carefulness. They had come to a four way junction in the sewer and it seemed that Leo wasn't going to move any time soon.

"Bro...com'mon man." Mikey whispered.

The blue banded turtle whipped around, his gray eyes narrowed dangerously and a finger pressed against his mouth in the universal gesture to shut up. Mikey backed off slightly but cocked his head to listen, trying to figure out what had Leo suddenly spooked.

At first all he heard was the slosh of water in the channel to their right and the occasional patter of a rat scurrying by. But then out of the normal, an unusual pattern of sounds emerged, making Michelangelo frown. At this Leo's hand moved towards one of his swords and he removed it silently.

The pattern started out with a scraping noise followed by some sort of hiss or whisper. Then, after a few seconds it was followed by a soft clunk and more whispers.

"What is that?" he hissed after a few minutes.

The blue clad turtle's eyes were glued to the tunnel directly across the channel from them, his eyes narrowed to silver slits.

"I dunno...but I bet you my second katana it's not supposed to be down here." he growled. Michelangelo nodded, removing his own weapons as his older brother took a cautions step forward.

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><p>"Dammit!" Avery hissed to herself as the wheel of her wheelchair got caught once more in the uneven floor of the sewer.<p>

She shifted back and forth until the wheel jerked forward and she slid forward slightly on the grime coated ground.

_'Stupid idea Avery! You know you came down here for no reason!' _she thought to herself as she tried not to topple over into the channel of filthy water next to her.

_'Those turtle things were probably just a figment of your imagination...you got lost down here for pretend heroes that you made up!'_ she continued to think as she made her way forward slowly.

Wheelchairs definitely weren't made for subterranean sewer exploration, the thin wheels either couldn't get a grip and slid in the muck or got caught on every bump or uneven area in the concrete. Slowly but surely though Avery made her way forward with only one other obstruction until she came to a the end of the tunnel. The concrete path that led next to the channel of water ending as her channel converged with four others at some sort of junction.

Avery growled to herself and looked around almost forlornly. There was no way that she could make it across the water even if she wanted to swim through the scarily brown water. Even then there was no way she would be able to keep track of where she was, eventually she'd have no way of getting out. If she hadn't gotten lost already.

"Well then..." she grumbled, feeling her heart fall at the prospect of waiting three days to hear back from Doctor Greene.

As great as that really sounded at the moment Avery wanted answers before whatever was happening to her got worse. There was no way to get those answers though...at least not now with her path blocked and her mobility limited. She stayed for a few minutes, glaring at the water as if it were the cause for every bad thing in the world.

Carefully, the young woman began the arduous process of turning her wheelchair as if it were some sort of vehicle. Inch by inch she rotated until her back was facing the junction and she was staring down the dark tunnel that she had come out of. Hopefully she could remember the way that she had come.

With a hard shove Avery pushed her wheelchair in motion but it stopped within seconds as the wheel got caught in yet another crevice that peppered the cement. She groaned and tried to rock the wheel back out but for whatever reason it was stuck harder then the other times. She grabbed the arms of the wheelchair and rocked back and forth, each time gaining momentum until she was moving back and forth at a respectable rate.

Avery could feel the wheel start to budge, just a little further... That's when she shifted her weight one last time and the wheel slid but this time it didn't stop.

The young woman felt the chair tilt as the wheel hit the edge of the channel and she lost her balance. For what felt like an eternity Avery fell and then she hit the water.

It was colder and faster then she thought it would be. The water swept Avery under at first until she remembered how to use her arms to swim. Unfortunately, from her hips down was dead weight and only helped the water carry her to the junction where it grew deeper. She felt her head dip under once, twice, and then three times before her vision was all but blocked out by grimy water and her hair. She went under and heard nothing but the high pitched hiss of water and her own panicked splashing.

Suddenly, something brushed Avery's waist and she nearly lost her mind. At first she thought that perhaps it was just trash but it happened again and she started thrashing. Despite her panicked movements whatever had touched her gripped her waist and she felt herself being pulled. She let loose a scream of bubbles that totally obscured her vision. Her lungs continued to burn as water rushed into her mouth. There was a loud series of splashes as Avery tried not to breath in the water.

Then, suddenly she was heaved upwards and her head broke the surface. She gasped glorious lungfuls of air and began to cough harshly, her still bruised ribs twinging slightly as she tried not to pass out. At first she didn't know what had happened as she was put down. The young woman simply sat backwards, her shoulders leaning against the wall as she tried to pull her dripping hair away from her vision.

"Man...we need to start charging you for rescues girl."

The voice made Avery freeze and she quickly looked up as she brushed her hair out of her face. Standing above her were two of the turtle creatures that she had come down to find.

The one wearing the blue mask she remembered was Leonardo. The other one was wearing an orange mask and she dimly remembered his name being Mikey or something along those lines. He himself was also sopping wet but didn't seem to mind as much as Avery did.

Avery realized that he must have jumped into the channel of water after her and pulled her out. The both of them were staring at her expectantly and she realized that they were expecting her to respond in some way. Instead she had been staring upward dumbly.

"Th...thank you...again." she panted, looking down to make sure she was still in one piece.

She was cold and wet but nothing seemed to be hurt except maybe her pride. Avery was slightly concerned that she may have opened up old wounds with her unexpected swim.

"What are you doing back down here?" Leonardo asked, his voice taking on a slight edge and his eye narrowed.

Avery flinched but knew she couldn't quite blame him, she had sorta shown up out of the blue again. This time on purpose.

"I came looking for you guys...I need answers." she said softly, sitting forward slightly with her legs stuck out in front of her at odd angles.

The two turtles shared a glance before looking back to Avery.

"Look, we know you're probably confused and a little scared that we're living down here in your sewers but no one was supposed to know about us. It would be best if you just left." the blue banded turtle said, crouching down so that he was face to face with the young woman.

Avery frowned, "It's not your existence that I want answers to...or at least they're not my main concern right now."

This seemed to surprise both Leonardo and Michelangelo, their eyes widened slightly and they looked at the girl in front of them curiously.

"If it's not us then what do you want?" the orange one asked crouching down as well.

Avery didn't know how to explain exactly, she was still trying to get over the fact that she had actually found what..._who_ she was looking for. Instead of speaking she simply pulled her sopping hair back and turned her shoulder, revealing the strange bumps on her neck and collar bone.

"I found these this morning. I have no idea what they are or where they may of come from...except from...well you." she murmured, not wanting to sound accusatory but at the same time wanting to make the turtles understood.

There was silence in which Avery didn't look up and simply let her hair fall back down, staring at her lap.

"Alright..."

The girl almost jumped at the sudden word and finally looked up, seeing that Leonardo was offering her a three fingered hand.

"You're going to help me?"

Leonardo nodded, "If we can. I can't make you any promises though..."

Avery nodded and gave a slightly uncomfortable smile, glancing at the offered hand.

"If you do want to help then you might want to get that wheelchair that fell in."

When the turtles gave her a confused look she sighed and dropped the smile, "I can't use my legs anymore...they're paralyzed."


	7. Chapter 7: Explanations or Lack Thereof

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey, sorry for sudden lessening of updates. I had up to chapter 6 written ahead of time and wanted to get ahead of the game again before I posted again. Either way here's chapter 7! Happy Thanksgiving and Godbless :)**

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><p><span>Chapter 7:<span> Explanations or Lack Thereof

"Here we are." Avery blinked rapidly as the cloth that was over her eyes was removed.

She looked expectantly up but was thoroughly disappointed when all she saw was the solid brick wall of the sewer. She looked to the left and right but saw no entrance, hole, or even a ladder that led anywhere. She was extremely confused as to why the three of them were now staring at a blank wall.

_'If they're messing with me...' _she thought to herself.

"Well..." she answered, glancing up at Leo skeptically

Leo simply gave a rare smile as he reached up without a word. The turtle grabbed a section of pipe that ran over head and turned it to the right. A sudden whoosh was followed by a heavy grinding noise that soundly slightly like a rumbling subway.

Avery looked up in shock as the wall of the sewer slid to the side to reveal a whole new area behind it. She shook herself as Leonardo and Michelangelo walked ahead and she pushed herself forward. Her wheelchair squeaking slightly from the water that still dripped from it as she made her way into be the turtle's new home.

It looked like it could have been an old holding area for water and was quite a bit bigger then the old one. The lower floor seemed to consist of a large sitting area, some sort of kitchen, and a larger central atrium that seemed to be some sort of training area or gym. There was also a large door in the far right corner that seemed to be covered in caution signs. Avery assumed that the upper level consisted of bed rooms of some sort and whatever else was needed for living.

"Welcome to home 2.0." Mikey grinned, and gave an exaggerated bow.

Avery gave a small smile and pushed herself forward, her eyes wandering over each detail with intense curiosity. She came to a halt before the floor dipped down into the training area and Leonardo held up a hand.

"Before we can do anything we need to talk to our sensei. Can you wait here?"

The young woman nodded, pulling her still damp hair back into a loose pony-tail. It wasn't like she could go very far very fast. The two turtles nodded back before jumping up the stairs that led to the upper level and disappeared behind a rice paper door. Avery stared for a moment before continuing to look around, her uneasiness the only thing that kept her from exploring. Though she did allow herself a moment to rummage through her backpack. Nothing had escaped the murky water and now everything had a pervasively sulfurous smell along with being soggy and damp.

"Great..." she muttered, putting her head in her hands for a moment before putting her backpack back on the handle of her chair.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Avery's brain was having a tough time catching up with all that had happened again. She almost couldn't believe that the turtles were real and not just something she had dreamed. Avery almost felt like laughing, she wasn't crazy...or at least not entirely.

She sat up once more in the silent room and glanced up to where Leonardo and Mikey had disappeared.

"Weren't there two more?" she muttered to herself, glancing over to the far door that was covered in caution signs and she frowned.

"Wonder where..." she began to say when a throaty growl interrupted her.

"How 'bout behind cha."

Avery felt her heart jump into her throat at the unexpected voice and she nearly gave herself whip lash as she tried to turn around. With fumbling fingers she turned her wheelchair around and looked up into the looming face of the red banded turtle.

She hadn't even heard him come into the room.

"What are ya doin' in our home?!" he growled once more while pulling out two three pronged weapons from his belt.

Avery's eyes went wide and she backed up slightly, her hands shaking as she gripped the slippery wheels of her chair. She tried to respond but her voice got caught in her throat and she sat there gaping like a fish. The turtle smirked slightly, though his menacing expression stayed the same as he took another step forward.

"I asked, whadda doin' here?!" he pointed the wicked looking point of one of his weapons at Avery who swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I needed help...Leonardo and Michelangelo brought me here." she said quickly, leaning as far back as possible to get away from the sharp looking blade.

The red banded turtle straightened up, a sneer crossing his face. He didn't put away his weapons though and continued to glare at Avery as if she had personally insulted him. He seemed about to say something else when there was the hiss of the rice paper door opening and both the young woman and turtle looked up.

Standing at the top of the stairs was the same humanoid rat, Splinter, followed by Leo and Mikey.

"Ah, Raphael. I see that you've come to welcome out guest." Splinter said as he calmly took the stairs down, his sharp eyes pinning the turtle in place.

The large turtle glanced at Avery once before putting his weapons away, giving a dissatisfied huff.

"Didn't know we were startin' up a hotel." he muttered, walking back towards the other end of the room.

Splinter watched his son leave with a shake of his head before approaching the still startled Avery.

"I do apologize for that. Raphael can be overly _protective, _especially after the events that we have been through over the past week." the rat said as he came to stand before the young woman, his gaze softening.

She nodded slowly, her eyes wandering back over to where the red banded turtle had left.

"It's...alright. I know I'm not the most welcome person." she glanced back at Splinter and the turtles.

The rat seemed to smile, "We are simply not used to visitors. Especially ones that seek us out so eagerly as my sons tell me."

Avery felt her face grow hot but she tried to keep focused, "I'm sorry...It's just I don't think that I could find answers anywhere else."

Splinter nodded, "Leonardo has explained to me why you came down here and you are right to be cautious. Though I'm sure you know that we may not provide much assistance."

"I think at this point I will take what I can get..." Avery saw a flicker of amusement pass over the rat's face before he gestured to the the far door that was covered in caution signs.

The young woman followed, slightly wary of the door. As they got closer her apprehension increased as she noticed that the edges of the door seemed to be blackened as if they had held in an explosion.

"Donnie's lab."Michelangelo leaned over next to Avery and whispered.

The girl's eyes widened, "Lab? Like as in a science lab?"

The orange clad turtle nodded with a grin, "Yup, Don's like our own personal mad scientist. He's always tinkering with inventions and computers."

Avery selfconsciously rubbed the bumps on her neck, half wondering if this really was such a good idea.

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><p>"Ow!" Avery muttered as the small device pricked her neck, and she pulled back slightly.<p>

Donatello rolled his eyes but said nothing as he glanced at the young woman before turning to the device in his hand. Once again she felt like a bug under a microscope as the purple banded turtle dialed in some numbers to the strange device and turned away slightly.

Apparently, according to Michelangelo (Avery had found out his full name) his brother had built it himself. Mikey had said this in an attempt to encourage the young woman but if anything it made her even more concerned. It looked like it had once been some sort of blood sugar tester but it was way past being anything recognizable to Avery now.

Wires and other doodads stuck out of it here and there making it look like something from Star Trek. There were several moments of silence in which Avery tried not to look anywhere other then her own hands. Behind her somewhere Leonardo and Splinter were discussing in low tones while Donatello muttered something to himself over by a very cluttered desk. Mikey was humming something to himself while flashing glances at the young woman.

Finally, after another minute or so there was a loud beep and everyone looked up and over at the purple masked turtle. He turned from looking over his desk with a very guarded look and he glanced over at his master. The rat approached and Avery clenched her hands into fists, a mix of fear and apprehension rising up as her answers sat only a few feet away.

"So..." Mikey said quietly, earning a quick glare from Donnie.

Splinter nodded to himself and walked back over to where Avery sat on a table, her wheelchair sitting off to the side.

"Avery, can you remember anything that was strange about the day that you were injured?" the rat asked.

The young woman frowned, she didn't remember much of anything from that entire week. Most of what she did remember, either doing or seeing were blurred or fragmented with black spots. She concentrated and tried to remember the few moments before the skyscraper had collapsed.

She had been walking back from work that afternoon when a big group of people had begun to scream and run. Avery had looked up at the commotion and then that was when the debris had hit the ground. She had felt the pain and blacked out then she remembered coming back to reality with blurred visions as she lay there, thinking that she was going to die.

"I remember the building falling..." she muttered, closing her eyes as she tried to work through her muddled thoughts.

"I was hit and blacked out. Then I saw..." she hesitated, trying to discern the blotches of memory and what they faded colors and blury shapes meant.

"What is it?" Splinter asked and Avery felt him place a hand on her shoulder.

Out of instinct she flinched away, shifting to the side as she looked up into liquid eyes. Immediately, the young woman felt guilty at her adversion but saw that the rat didn't seem to take it personally. She closed her eyes once more and tried to remember the final moments of consiousness that she had before waking up with the turtles.

"I saw some thing or..a person...they were covered in some sort of _armor _I guess..." she opened her eyes once more and looked at Splinter.

The rat was looking at Avery intently, a slight flash of fear crossing his furry features. The same look was reflected in all three of the turtles that had also turned to look at the young woman.

"That's all I remember before waking up down in the sewers." she muttered, unsettled by how concerned Splinter and the turtles seemed by her account.

"Donatello...do you have any answers for Ms. Avery?" the rat looked away and took a step back, his hands clasped behind his back.

The purple clad turtle glanced back down at the device in his hand. His eyes obscured by his glasses.

"Well...there aren't too many straight answers but I do have an _idea_...Right now your immune system is extremely stimulated right now." he answered, glancing up at Avery.

She nodded slowly, "They said the same thing when I left the hospital. But my doctor said that it was because of the extent of my injuries."

The turtle shook his head, "Normally, yes that could be the cause but that should have stopped weeks ago. The reason that your immune system is so boosted is because it seems to be trying to fight something off."

"You mean...I'm sick?" Avery said slowly, her brow furrowing.

"In a way." Donatello shrugged, "It's more like there is some sort of substance within your body that isn't supposed to be there. Your immune system is reacting to whatever that is."

There were a few moments of silence in which Avery absently rubbed the strange scales that on her neck.

"Is this _substance_..." she almost spat out the word, "what's causing these things?"

Donnie nodded, "Though, I can't tell you what the stuff is."

The young woman blinked in surprise. "You don't know?"

More silence followed at the purple clad turtle shook his head and looked to his brothers and Splinter. The rat seemed at a loss for an explanation as well which, if anything, irritated Avery. Se had come down here for answers and now all she was getting were more questions. She had almost risked her life coming down to this stinking sewer to find these turtles and now all they were doing was telling her things that she already knew.

"I need to know what's happening!" she said sharply, trying not to show her anger but failing.

Splinter stepped forward, coming face to face with the young woman and making her flinch back for a second time.

"Avery..." he murmured quietly but in such a tone that she listened attentively.

"This is a very complicated matter and the answers you seek are not easily teased out of hiding. Somehow you have been caught up in events that are much more complicated then they appear."

The young woman stared at the rat, tears building behind her eyes and she fought them back. She felt like everything was falling away from reality and the only solid thing that Avery felt she could grasp onto was the idea that she could get answers.

"Please..." she whispered, "Please tell me what you _do_ know."

Splinter sighed and glanced over at his sons. He nodded once to Leonardo before turning back to look right into Avery's eyes.

"Donatello, please try to find out what you can. Avery as I said before, I cannot guarantee answers but I will tell you what I think." Avery nodded once as Splinter stepped back, her shoulders rising and falling as she took a deep breath.

Slowly, she reached down and grabbed the handles of her wheelchair and hoisted herself down.

"If you would follow me." the rat said and slowly turned out of the room, Avery following close behind.

* * *

><p>"Here are the files you asked for sir." the young blonde said, handing a thick folder to Eric Sacks.<p>

"Thank you Emily." he grumbled, to tired to try and seem agreeable.

The intern nodded with a slightly offended look and briskly left the office, her heels clacking on the floor. She was one of the few interns that the company could afford to keep since it's decline but didn't seem too thrilled with it.

Sacks glared at the folder that sat smugly on the desk before flicking it open with the tip of his finger. His eyes scanned the names and claims that the dozen or so people had filed towards his company regarding the building collapse.

Each had pages upon pages of differing claims, ranging from injures to simple car destruction. With a slight growl he started going through the paperwork, sorting it by how valid the claim seemed in his opinion.

"Leeches..." he snarled as he read one claim from a Dorothy Davis who claimed that she needed money for therapy due to seeing the tragic event.

He continued going through the claims, sorting through them with a disdain that one would usually find when someone was picking up a dead animal. There a few claims here or there that seemed legitimate enough. Company cars crushed by debris, damage done to neighboring buildings, and two actual medical claims from people caught in the rubble.

Besides those few claims Eric Sacks tossed the rest into the trash bin at his feet. With a sigh he picked up the two claims from the two injured people. One was an older gentle man by the name of Steven Briggs who had been hit by debris and had broken his leg and suffered a concussion. Sacks rolled his eyes but knew that this was one claim that couldn't simply be ignored. He looked to the next one and saw that it was slightly different from the rest.

The claim wasn't actually from the specific person but had been filed by the accounting office of Lennox Hill Hospital. He read down the list and saw that it was for a young woman who had been permanently disabled by the collapse of the tower. He conceded that this was probably the most legitimate claim out of all of them.

He sighed and reluctantly set the papers aside, slowly sitting up out of his chair before grabbing his grabbed his brief case and slipped the two valid claims into it before clicking it shut. With one last sigh, he straightened up and walked out of his office, locking the door behind him.


	8. Chapter 8: Nunchucks

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey! So I'm getting back up to speed with updates so hopefully I can stay on track :) I'd love to know what you all think of how the story is going so far. Too slow? Too quick? Not enough action? Reviews are my fuel! Anyway enjoy and Godbless!**

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><p>Chapter 8: Nunchucks<p>

Avery was enjoying silence for once. Usually the city girl in her looked forward to the hustle and bustle of life that was the heart of New York City. She enjoyed falling asleep to the rumble of cars and shouts of random people, it was her lullaby.

Right now though the young woman had too much to think about at the moment. Sleep was the last thing on her mind at the moment despite the exhaustion that pulled at her eye lids. Her wristwatch had stopped at three thirty-two ever since her swim in the sewer channel. So Avery had to guess as to the time since she had yet to see a clock. She had spent a good chunk of the evening talking with Splinter and it had probably gotten late in that time. On pure estimation the young woman assumed it was around eleven at night.

Avery remembered the things that the rat had told her, the story behind the mutants that were living in the sewer. He had abridged much of their origins to the pure facts that they had at one point been experimented on before being dumped into the sewer.

From there Splinter had told how the wealthy entrepreneur Eric Sacks had captured three of the turtles and badly injured Splinter and Raphael in an attempt to get their blood. Apparently, the remaining turtle had gone with the help of two friends (whom the rat didn't really mention much) to Sack's estate to free his brothers before going back to New York to finish the fight.

Avery listened I disbelief as Splinter explained how, because of their fight the building had begun to collapse. Leading to the reason behind the young woman's injuries. For a long time afterward Avery had simply let the information sink into her brain, though for a long time she had almost tried to convince herself that it was still all just a bad dream.

Unfortunately, it had only gotten worse as Splinter had come to the decision that Avery should stay with them until her condition was brought to light. His fear was that their enemies would somehow find out and try to harm her. She had protested at first, wanting to go back home since she had already been down in the sewers longer than she had planned. Not to mention that, despite the rat and turtle's good intentions...they scared Avery.

She couldn't help but feel bad about her adverse feelings but it couldn't be helped. The young woman simply felt uncomfortable, as if she were in the presence of some one who was sick.

Splinter was adamant though and had Leonardo show her to a small spare room with an old futon stuffed in the corner. It was more of a small storage room but it more than Avery had expected at this point.

This was where she was currently residing in her wheelchair. She was grateful for the piece of fabric that acted as a door as it gave her a separated feeling. It was simply a flimsy piece of cloth but to Avery it was her mental wall.

She was confused and scared as she felt the bumps on her neck for what must have been the hundredth time. Avery didn't want to be there any more, all she wanted was to fall asleep and forget. There was no way that she was going to sleep though, she felt exposed and vulnerable as it was with her limited mobility. Being stuck in a small room, surrounded by things she didn't know made her feel even more so.

Beyond her door of fabric the rest of the turtle's home was dark and silent so the young woman assumed that the creatures were asleep.

_'Do they even actually sleep though?'_ she thought suddenly, not sure what to consider normal anymore.

_'Maybe they're nocturnal and sleep during the day...'_ she heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose at her scattered thoughts.

Avery tried to fight the burning behind her eyes but unfortunately the feeling was much more persistent. She put her head in her hands as the tears ran down her face, her shoulders shaking pathetically.

* * *

><p>Michelangelo woke, feeling slightly more exhausted then he thought he should have been. He sat up in his hammock and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before adjusting his bandana. With a heave he jumped out of his hammock and stretched before looking around the room. Mikey saw that all of his older brothers were already up and gone and he sighed, not really wanting to get up and moving.<p>

"Ah shell..." he muttered since he almost always got picked on for sleeping in.

He stretched once more and yawned widely as he walked out of the room. He heard soft chit chat coming from the kitchen and saw Leo and Donnie sitting at the table.

"Morning bros.." he muttered as he walked in and began rifling through one of the cabinets in search of breakfast.

The two older turtles stopped their conversation and looked up at Michelangelo.

"Hey Mikey, did Raph ever come back last night?" the blue banded turtle asked as his brother turned, his hand digging into a box of Captin Crunch.

"Nah, don' thinch he came batch..." he mumbled as he stuffed a handful of cereal into his mouth.

Leo and Don shared a glance, both of them concerned about where their brother had gone off to in the night. Mikey sat down in a third chair and noticed the nervous looks that his brothers had on their faces.

"Guyths..." he said, crumbs tumbling down his front from his full mouth.

"Raph 'ill be fthine! Heth don dis befo'."

Leonardo raised an eye ridge and glanced at Donatello once more, "Translation please."

The purple banded turtle rolled his eyes, " He said that Raph's done this before. And..." he looked back at Mikey.

"We know he's done this before Mikey. Every time though he seems to get into trouble, not to mention that when he _does _get back he's gunna be pissed at Master Splinter's decision."

The youngest turtle momentarily stopped stuffing his face and swallowed his mouthful of cereal. He glanced over at the opposite side of the room were the covered doorway sat. The previous day's memories surfacing in his mind and the turtle gave an inward sigh.

"Riiight...she's still here." he remembered.

The doorway was dark and silent, nothing seemed to be moving on the other side.

"Any sign that she's alive?" Michelangelo asked in a somewhat sarcastic way.

Donnie shook his head, "Not yet. Though I can't really blame her, she probably has no idea what to do with everything that's happened."

Mikey nodded slowly before throwing a single piece of cereal up into the air before catching it in his mouth. There were a few minutes of silence in which Donnie got up to make his usual coffee and Leo simply sat, deep in thought. This continued until the blue banded turtle straightened in his chair. A insightful look on his face.

"Guys I just thought of something. What if we asked April to come down to meet this girl? Do you think that would maybe help her adjust?"

Donatello turned with a chipped mug of coffee in his hand, his expression thoughtful at this new prospect. Neither of the other two brothers had thought of this option, though now it seemed the obvious choice.

"That could actually be very helpful. Who better to help out a human than another human." Donnie grinned before sipping the steaming mug.

"Ya, O'Neil would be able to help her!" Mikey grinned and shot a fist towards the ceiling.

"Alright then" Leo nodded and stood from his chait.

"I'll go topside and talk to April. Maybe even keep an eye out for Raph while I'm up there."

Donnie nodded, "I need to stay in the lab to keep an eye on the test results and fix up some things around the place." he flashed a glance at Mikey.

"Cause apparently some turtles can't comprehend that nunchucks and kitchen appliances don't mix."

Michelangelo gave an embarrassed grin, "Bro, wasn't my fault! The toaster wouldn't give me my bagel back."

The bespectacled turtle simply rolled his eyes before standing along with Leonardo.

Mikey grinned and lept up, "Alright! Topside trip!"

He turned towards the door when Leo stopped the younger turtle with hand on his shoulder.

"Hold up Mikey, you should probably stay here."

Michelangelo's smile vanished and he shook off his brother's hand, "Bro why!? I haven't been topside in forever!"

With an amused look the eldest turtle shrugged, "Someone needs to make sure that our guest is okay since Master Splinter is out and Dons got stuff to do."

The orange banded turtle's eyes went wide as silence fell for a moment, seeing now that his elder brother was indeed being serious.

"Wait...what!?"

Leo gave slight smile before giving his brother one last pat on the shoulder, "You always have been a ladies man Mikey."

And with that the blue banded turtle turned to leave the lair, the wall closing behind him with a soft boom. The orange clad turtle turned and gave Donatello a withering look, simply earning himself a laugh from the older turtle before he went off to his lab. This left Mikey standing in the middle of kitchen, the box of Captain Crunch having fallen to the floor.

"Ah _shell_!"

* * *

><p>Avery started, her eyes shooting open as she realized that she had fallen asleep in her wheelchair. Her neck ached horribly as she straightened up, her back cracking in several places as the exhausting memories from the day before came rushing back in blurry flashes.<p>

The young woman had forced herself to stay up into the early morning and had only dozed off within the last few hours. She yawned widely and stretched her arms up over her head, releasing another series of cracks. Avery tried to run a hand through her hair but stopped when her fingers caught in a huge rats nest of hair.

_'Great...'_ she thought to herself, grabbing the mass of dark hair and throwing it into a a messy bun before turning to look at the covered doorway.

It seemed to be slightly lighter in the room beyond so she assumed that her reptilian hosts were up. She strained to hear anything but it was just as silent as it had been the night before. With a sigh she put her head in her hands and took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts.

Avery had no idea what she was technically _"allowed"_ to do or what she was supposed to do. She knew she wasn't a prisoner but at the same time there were limited options with her being confined to a wheelchair.

The young woman still felt wary of the turtles but knew that she couldn't just stay put away in a closet. She wouldn't get any answers by being afraid. Again her hand wandered up to her neck and she rubbed the bumps that ran up to her jaw, determined to at least look around.

Avery promised herself that if she still didn't feel comfortable then she would go back.

"Just relax..." she whispered to herself.

Carefully, Avery wheeled herself forward and hooked a finger around the edge of the fabric covering the door. She peeked out and with a relieved sigh saw that the downstairs seemed to be empty.

_'Maybe I could leave...and come back when the test is finished.'_ she thought and warily started forward.

The central room was quiet and Avery felt the nervousness in her stomach fade slightly. It seemed that Splinter and the turtles had gone out. The young woman slowly made her way around and glanced around now that there was no one watching her. She noted the quirky things that she hadn't noticed when she had first arrived.

A couch and chair made out of stacked pizza boxes sat in front of odd jumble of different sized televisions that looked like they were put together in a game of Tetris. One of the ones in the right hand corner was obviously busted with the glass shattered as if it had been punched while several of the others looked like they were held together with nothing but duct tape.

Avery's gazed wandered from the eccentric living area to the extremely messy looking kitchen.

A sparse amount of pots and plates sat unwashed in the sink along with what looked like a small, rusty motor of some sort. Pizza boxes sat in towering stacks on the counter that looked like they were about to topple over. What seemed to be motor oil stained the rickety kitchen table that was paired with five mismatched chairs that were more tape and repairs than actual chair.

With a small sniff Avery's eyes finally fell on the more organized looking matted area that occupied the area of the floor that dipped down in a large bowl. The floor was covered in an assortment of old rugs that were frayed and several had holes plastered over with duck tape. It looked to be some sort of dojo.

Three training dummies stood off to the side while it was mirrored by a large wooden rack filled with different types of weapons on the opposite side. Carefully, the young woman wheeled her way down and followed her curiosity over to the rack of weapons. Avery had never really been around weapons before and she would be the last person to be involved in anything violent.

She had two step brothers that had used to take karate lessons and constantly were involved in paint ball but that was the only things that Avery had actually ever been around in her lifetime. Unless you counted the one semester of power yoga that she took in college. She gazed wide eyed at the array of weapons ranging from the elegant to downright scary looking.

There were katanas and other blades of varying shapes, bo staffs, the three pronged weapons that the turtle Raphael used, along with many others that Avery couldn't name. She wheeled along until she came to the end of the rack where there were a row of nunchucks.

"Those babies are sweet huh?"

Avery jumped so hard she could have sworn her wheelchair left the ground. She whipped around at the voice and stared wide eyed at it's source. Chuckling behind her was Michelangelo, crouching up on the railing that ran around the upper level of the sewer. With minimal effort he slid down the railing and flipped to the ground, barely making a noise despite the fact that he was giant turtle.

"Tada!" he exclaimed before trotting over to stand in front of Avery.

The young woman was still somewhat shocked at Mikey's sudden appearance and as he approached she automatically grabbed the wheel of her chair.

The turtle noticed though and seemed to get the hint, stopping several feet away.

"Sorry if I scared ya." he said, his smile fading slightly and he self consciously rubbed the back of his neck.

Avery shook herself and forced her hand to let go, "No it's...alright. Just startled me that's all."

There were a few moments of silence in which Michelangelo looked around as if searching for some subject of conversation to latch onto.

Avery did the same though she was looking more for a reason to get back to her closet of a room. Her eyes wandered back over to the rack of weapons and noticed that a pair of nunchucks were missing along with several other empty spaces. She looked back over and saw that the weapons seemed to be on the turtle's waist.

"You use those things?" she finally asked softly.

At this the turtle's face lit up and he promptly removed the weapons from his belt with a flourish.

"Yep! Been using them ever since I could walk. Master Splinter taught us all how to use different weapons. 'Course, I got the best ones." he said with a smirk.

With that he lept forward onto the center of the carpeted area, the nunchucks swinging at a sudden rapid pace. Mikey began leaping and flipping in a complicated series of moves while continuously spinning his weapons around his head.

Avery had to admit that despite her wariness she was somewhat impressed by how well the turtle handled the weapons.

As the turtle continued, the moves progressively got more and more complicated and the young woman couldn't help but be entranced by the precision. There were several times that Avery thought Mikey would catch himself on his nunchucks or misstep but he always recovered. With one last leap the orange clad turtle came to a halt, barely out of breath as he straightened up and replaced his weapons in his belt.

"That was very cool." Avery said, slightly amused as Mikey gave an exaggerated bow.

Consequently, as the turtle stood up and took a step forward his foot caught on one of the many frayed rugs. Without an ounce of the gracefulness that he had just demonstrated moments before Michelangelo fell to the ground with a thud.

"Ow..." he said, his voice sounding muffled by the rug.

Suddenly, a soft burst of giggles echoed throughout the lair as Mikey picked himself up. He looked up in surprise to see Avery trying to hold in the bout of laughter. He himself couldn't help but grin as he readjusted his headband self consciously.

Avery took a deep breath and tried to compose herself, though she allowed herself to keep smiling. The bout of giggles had surprised her much as it had surprised the turtle. It had been a long time since she had found a reason to laugh.

"So uh yeah...that was fun." Mikey laughed, walking up to Avery who couldn't help but nod in agreement.

She was about to answer when her stomach gave a rather loud rumble and she put a hand to it in mild embarrassment. This time it was the orange banded turtle's turn to laugh and he pointed a thumb behind him.

"Suppose dudettes gotta eat. You like pizza?" Avery cocked and eyebrow but simply nodded as Mikey stepped up out of the training area. _  
><em>

_'Well then...'_ she thought to herself as she wheeled herself forward. _'This should be interesting.'_


	9. Chapter 9: Surprise Visitors

TMNT 2k14: Unexpected Things

**Hey all! So just for future reference there might be a pause between this chapter and the next do to finals over the next week or so before WINTER BREAK! So I made this chapter a little longer just for that :) I hope you like it, let me know with a review! **

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><p><span>Chapter 9:<span> Surprise Visitors

Avery blinked rapidly to try and keep herself awake, though that was a feat in it of itself since she was only running on about four hours of sleep. At the moment she was sitting slightly behind the pizza box couch supposedly watching Michelangelo play some very violent video game.

Personally, she wasn't very interested in the game but it was hard to say no to the hyper active turtle when you had limited mobility. She had just managed to convince him that she didn't want to play the video game and would much rather then, as Avery looked up a very bright explosion went off as the turtle's character set off a grenade and charged through a hailstorm of alien bullets with a whoop.

"Take that alien scum!" Michelangelo exclaimed, mashing the buttons on the controller so that his character did flip across the screen.

Avery gave an amused huff just as there was the sound of a door opening. Her hands went for the wheels of her chair and she turned warily to see Donatello's lab door open. The purple banded turtle came out, holding some sort of jumble of wires in his right hand while screwing something in with a screwdriver in his left.

He seemed to be mumbling something to himself and didn't even glance at Avery or his brother. Instead his walked straight to the kitchen, put the screwdriver between his teeth before reaching up to grab a mug from one of the cabinets. Next, Don took the mug and filled it with what seemed to be coffee from an old coffee pot on the stove.

From there he followed his own path back to his lab before closing the door slowly behind him. Seeming completely enthralled in his own little world.

"Well then..." Avery muttered, glancing over at Mikey who continued to be absorbed by his video game as another series of explosions went off.

Taking that as permission, the young woman wheeled her way over to the lab door, curiosity flashing through her. Normally, she would have probably stayed away from a place that had a high risk of exploding. The nagging thought that this was where her test results were was the only thing that kept her going forward. She saw that the lab door was partially left open and intermittent flashes came from behind it as if someone was soldering. Every so often there was a loud snap or pop that went along with the flashes that would make the young woman jump.

Cautiously, Avery opened the door just wide enough to get through and peeked around it, her hands slightly shaky. She saw the dark silhouette of the turtle seated at a large workbench, his form outlined by the intermittent flashes that seemed to come from directly in front of him.

The young woman watched for a few more moments, all the while her will to continue forward dwindled away as she saw the flashes. She had never been known to go out of her comfort zone and didn't see a need to do so right at this moment...

_'Maybe I'll come back later...' _Avery thought.

She was just about to turn and leave, maybe go back to her little room when the door knocked loudly against her wheelchair, making her heart jump. She heard the sound of a chair sliding and turned to see Donatello turn around.

"Oh...hello." he said, sounding genuinely surprised by Avery's presence.

The young woman gave a nervous smile, "Hi...sorry if I'm disturbing. I was just leaving..." she jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

The turtle returned the smile, though his seemed much more genuine. "

"If you want you can come in...just fiddling around with this." he held up the same bunch of wires and scrap parts that he had been playing with when he got coffee.

Avery didn't know what else to say and simply rolled into the semi dark room, her eyes wandering the shelves that lined every wall. They were filled with everything from small motors to what looked like circuit boards and masses of wires. Here and there was the occasional complete machine like a small printer or clock, though they didn't seem to function.

"Are you feeling better?" Avery looked back over at the purple banded turtle who had turned back to the machine he was fiddling with.

The question surprised her, up until Mikey had actually approached her earlier that morning Avery assumed the turtles didn't like her any more then she liked them.

"I'm alright." she answered quietly, wheeling her way over to the work bench though she kept her distance.

The turtle made a noise as if he didn't quite believe her but didn't say anything else as he began to tighten another screw.

Avery cocked an eyebrow, "What?" she dared ask.

They was a moment of quiet in which Donnie finished tightening the screw before he glanced over at the girl with a slightly amused expression.

"Are you _really_ okay?"

It surprised the girl even more that the purple banded turtle seemed genuinely curious as to her condition. In the same way that Michelangelo seemed genuinely interested in being friendly. Slowly, the girl shrugged and shook her head.

"I'm alive aren't I?" she shrugged.

At this Donnie laughed, "At least there's that. Though I'm glad you're up an about, staying put in a wheelchair without getting adequate exercise can lead to muscle deterioration and depression." the turtle started talking more as he fiddled with his invention, gaining speed with every word.

Avery had to really concentrate to understand every word that started to pour from the turtle's mouth as he continued to talk about different medical conditions. At first she thought that maybe he was actually trying to tell her about certain things. But as the turtle began to go into how he could probably make a much cooler wheelchair did Avery realize...he was rambling.

The young woman had to admit, it was sort of nice to just listen to the words and not really respond. For the past month all she had to listen to was the TV and her cat, so hearing somewhat coherent speech was a nice change.

"It'd be neat to see what boosters could do an..." the turtle stopped mid sentence and seemed to realize that his mouth had gotten the better of him.

"Sorry!" he laughed slightly and pushed the glasses on his face up, "I don't get to talk about this too often."

Avery felt a smile unwillingly cross her face, "No, it was fine...you do know a lot about different things. Where'd you learn about medical and mechanical stuff...down here?"

Donatello looked thoughtful for a moment, obviously pleased to have someone to talk to as well who seemed somewhat interested.

"Well, Master Splinter taught us basic stuff in writing and math but left us to our own devices as we got older. Out of all of us I liked the technical and scientific stuff more and it made sense to me. So I read whenever we'd find a book in the trash or if someone lost one down here. Then whenever we needed something I could usually find it in someone's trash and fix it up." he shrugged, fully turning from his project to look at the dark haired girl.

"So you're the one that fixes everything around here?" Avery glanced around at the cluttered shelves, understanding starting to dawn on her as to why someone might want three broken toasters and two printers.

Don nodded, "I fix things, make things we need, play doctor if I have to. Though you've seen that I'm no professional. Sometimes I try to invent different things that make life down here easier."

Avery didn't know what to say to that though the turtle didn't seem like he expected a response. It was interesting to learn more about how the turtles and rat had lived down here in the sewers for so long. It also started to show that each of the brothers was slightly different from the other. They each had a personality.

The purple banded turtle smiled before looking back down to the small machine sitting on the desk.

"What are you making now?" Avery asked, not recognizing anything under the tangle of wires that somehow made sense to Donatello.

"It' s a motion sensor for outside the lair. Ever since we've moved our home I've had to revamp our security systems." he leaned forward and put down what looked like a pair of robotic goggles from on top of his head.

_'Security?' _Avery remembered how Splinter had explained how someone by the name of Eric Sacks had tried to capture them for Shredder...whoever that was.

She shook her head and resumed watching the turtle work on the small device in front of him. The young woman watched as with a surgeons precision Donnie began connecting many of the wires. Some of which were only the width of a needle.

"Damn..." he muttered suddenly as his finger slipped and there was a flash as the device sparked.

The turtle shook his hand which had apparently been shocked by the slip up and sat back, a annoyed look flashing across his face.

"Wish I had a third arm..." he grumbled before standing up and going over to one of the cramped shelves.

Avery watched as the turtle dug through the random supplies that occupied the space until he brought out a pair of needle nosed pliers.

Once more Donatello tried to attach the two wires, this time holding them together with the pliers before reaching over to grab a soldering gun. But once more the device sparked leaving the turtle thoroughly irritated as he dropped the pliers.

"Do...you need help?" Avery asked warily before she could stop herself.

What could she be getting herself into?

The turtle glanced at her and his irritation faded as he seemed to think.

"Can you hold the pliers steady while I solder them?"

The young woman nodded slowly, praying that she somehow didn't get electrocuted. Donnie reached over and picked up the fallen pliers and handed them to Avery, the young woman taking them as if they were poisonous.

"Just keep your arm steady and we'll be golden." the turtle said as he pointed to the wire that Avery should hold, an encouraging smile crossing his face.

"Grip the wire right where the rubber has been stripped."

She carefully gripped the small copper wire and clamped the pliers down, trying to keep her hand from shaking.

"Perfect." the turtle muttered as he brought the soldering gun down with a bright flash.

Avery closed her eyes as she waited for something bad to happen but as the flashing stopped she peeked open an eye. Looking down she saw that the two ends of the wire were now one seamlessly melded whole.

"Excellent!" Donatello said and smiled at Avery, "Thank you."

Then, in what seemed to be out of habit the turtle reached over and put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. Avery couldn't help it and instinctively flinched, pulling away as if she had been stung by a bug. The turtle seemed surprised by her reaction and opened his mouth to say something when Avery quickly back up her chair and turned.

"Sorry..." she said quietly and left the room as quickly as she could.

* * *

><p>"One iced caramel coffee please." April smiled at the cute cashier behind the coffee shop counter as she handed him the money for her drink.<p>

The young man handed the woman her change and returned the smile with a wink, "No problem."

"That'll be right up."

The woman sighed and appreciated the normality of the situation for once as she watched the bustle of everyday life.

She seemed to be one of the many bright young woman that went about their promising lives in New York City. People came and went from the shop, ordering a coffee and the occasional doughnut. An elderly man sat in the corner reading the afternoon paper.

It had been a good week since she had last seen her reptilian friends and over a month since they had defeated the Foot and Sacks.

Now the clan was struggling to get itself together and Eric Sack was doing the same with his company while fighting off criminal charges. Of course April was still out of a reporting job since she hadn't revealed the turtles but it was well worth it to her. At least she had an interview with a small company who needed a secretary/errand runner later that day.

"Here's your coffee." the same cute guy behind the counter said with a brilliant smile a few minutes later.

"Thanks." April smiled back and took the coffee, noticing that there was writing on the side of the cup as she exited the shop.

It was a series of numbers; a phone number.

"Vern would be appalled." she muttered but grinned at the same time.

The camera man had subsequently been fired from the new company as well since he (along with Michelangelo's help) had trashed two company cars within a week. He had found a new job at an antique store though and was doing well enough for himself.

April took a sip of her coffee as she turned down a small side street that was a shortcut to her now empty apartment. A week after the incident with Sacks her apartment mate, Taylor, had moved back with her parents because she, _"Needed some space." _

April wasn't really complaining but the increase in her bills wasn't helping since she was still looking for a job. With a sigh the young woman walked up the three flights of stairs that led up to her apartment before rummaging through her purse for her keys.

She was about to push the key into the lock when the door moved inwards slightly.

It was already open.

Immediately, April felt the hair on her neck stand on end. She remembered locking the door that morning before she left so what was it doing open?

_'Maybe Taylor came back to get something?' _she thought to herself as she silently pushed the front door the rest of the way open.

April listened carefully and looked for some sort of weapon, her heart thumping in her ears. She grabbed the umbrella sitting on the corner and put her purse and coffee to the ground as she slowly walked forward. There was a soft thump somewhere ahead and the woman froze, her grip tightening on her 'weapon'.

"Taylor..." she whispered as she turned the corner to go into the living area, seeing no one.

"Nope, tha' was a good guess though." April whipped around at the voice and hoisted her umbrella up, ready to strike.

She was about to swing when she saw who was standing behind her.

"Raph!?" she growled, seeing the turtle's face turn up in a smirk.

"Nice to see ya to sunshine." he said sarcastically, glancing at the still upraised umbrella.

April rolled her eyes and for good measure whapped the red banded turtle on the shoulder before throwing the umbrella onto a chair.

"Hey! Wha' was that for?" Raph's huffed as April went back to get her bag and coffee, looking humorously offended.

"For you sneaking into my home!" she said back, trying to hide her own smirk.

As scared as April was by the turtle's sudden appearance she was glad to see one of them again. As nice as normal was she was never one for the ordinary things, they weren't nearly as fun to deal with.

"I thought we were family?" Raph followed the young woman into the kitchen and she turned to look at Raph with a raised eyebrow.

"Family doesn't sneak into other family's houses. They call ahead or at least knock on the door."

At this the red banded turtle simply shrugged as his smirk came back, "I knocked on da window. No one was home so it's your fault that cha don't lock ya windows."

April sighed before putting her stuff on the kitchen table, "I'm on the third floor, I shouldn't have to lock my windows."

Raphael gave a chuckle before glancing around the kitchen as if he realized that he was actually inside a dwelling place outside of a sewer.

"So this is your little pad huh?" he turned to look at the living area, not seeming impressed.

April nodded, "Yeah, you're lucky that my apartment mate moved out. She would have freaked is she saw you."

"What I woulda paid ta see dat." the turtle laughed.

The young woman rolled her eyes in good humor before sitting down and sipping her coffee.

"So what are you doing up here Raph? Where are the others?" April asked, pulling her hair up.

The red banded turtle's good mood shifted at this, his smile vanishing almost instantly. He leaned back against the counter, making it creak.

"Needed ta get outta there for a bit. Git some fresh air ya know." he almost mumbled, crossing his massive arms.

April gave turtle a look, fully aware that this wasn't the entire truth. Raph didn't say anything for a few moments and refused to look at his friend, resembling something like a mad child. Finally, after the silence had gone on for a solid minute April huffed.

"Raph...what happened? If something bad happened I want to know."

The turtle gave a small growl as he rolled his eyes obviously not enjoying being scolded.

"It's nothing bad...just frustratin'." he sighed.

April nodded, "Okaaay...and?"

The turtle gave another growl before shooting the woman a dangerous look, "Ya ain't my parent April so stop actin' like it."

Silence followed this comment as both Raphael and April stayed in their positions with their arms crossed. Both seeming perfectly content to sit in this state of perpetual bullheadedness. The turtle glaring a hole in the ceiling while the woman sat staring in expectation with a raised eye brow. Finally, Raph sighed and his stony expression faded.

"Shell you're stubborn!"

April smiled briefly before getting serious once more, "I learned from the best...Now what's wrong?"

The red banded turtle shook his head before looking back over at his friend, trying not to get too worked up.

"It started two days after the big fight we had with ol' bucket head. Leo had come home an' said that he needed ta show us all somethin'. Next thing I know there's some half dead girl in the sewer." he started off, recounting the day that they had found Avery.

He continued by quickly running through how the girl had woken and how she had randomly gotten worse and had to be taken to a hospital. From there Raph told of how she had come back after a month for some reason that he hadn't stayed around to find out.

"Whatever she wants I don't need to be messin' around in...The others got it covered." he said the last part in a mutter.

For a few moments April sat in quiet contemplation, trying to put together the pieces that Raphael had just placed before her. It was odd to think that someone besides Vern and herself now knew about the turtles and Splinter, though with the increased activity they had above ground she wasn't necessarily surprised.

"You didn't stick around to find out what she needed?" April finally asked, not all the sure why Raph seemed so worked up.

"Nope! Left last night and haven't gone back yet. Hopefully she's back ta her nice little life." he said with indifference.

The dark haired woman shook her head but didn't respond, at least she had gotten this much out of the normally reclusive turtle. She was about to ask another question when a knock came outside the kitchen, making April jump slightly.

"Uh-oh." Raph straightened up and his hands went to the sai at his side.

The young woman stood and put a hand on his shoulder, "Just relax...it might just be a girl scout or something. Just stay out of sight."

Raphael laughed, "I'm a ninja, that's my job."

April walked out of the kitchen/living area and took a breath before walking up to her door and opening it. She had been expecting some sort sales person, girl scout, or maybe even a religious group looking for donations but not an empty hall.

There was no one there.

"Hello?" April said softly, looking down the deserted hallway before shutting the door.

The knock came again but this time the woman realized that it wasn't coming from the front door it sounded like it was coming from the...window. She whipped around and looked out the large window the was behind the living room chair, her mouth forming a perfect 'o' as she saw who hung outside.

"Leo?"


End file.
